Tuesday morning, the Mesa Police Department arrested longtime Phoenix advocate Martin Hernandez for trespassing while he was filming immigration enforcement activity. Nearly five hours later, after an outcry over the arrest and a protest in front of a Mesa police facility, Hernandez was released.
In a statement to Phoenix New Times, Mesa police spokesperson Jesse Macias said officers responded to the west Mesa area after receiving a call from a “concerned citizen” who referenced “a man who ran from law enforcement and was hiding inside a business.” Macias did not specify the business but said Hernandez was “asked multiple times to leave the private property” but “refused to comply and was subsequently detained for trespassing.”
He was then transported to the Mesa Police Department’s Northeast Mesa Public Safety Facility and booked on a charge of third-degree trespassing, a misdemeanor. Police issued him a citation and then released him…