Phoenix, Az — Today, Federal District Court Judge Snow issued an emergency injunction preventing the city of Phoenix from engaging in conduct that harms unsheltered people across the city, including “The Zone,” a 500-square-foot, shadeless, paved block in downtown Phoenix.
Benjamin Rundall, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Arizona stated: “Today’s ruling affirms the City must do more to protect the constitutional rights of the unsheltered community. The order makes it clear – the city of Phoenix can’t destroy people’s belongings or target them with criminal sanctions due to their unhoused status. Because of this injunction, unsheltered people won’t be at risk of losing essential belongings, receiving unconstitutional citations, and experiencing further trauma at the hands of the city and Phoenix PD.”
The ACLU of Arizona filed the lawsuit challenging the unconstitutional raids against the city of Phoenix earlier this month on behalf of the Fund for Empowerment and two individual plaintiffs who have been directly impacted by previous raids.