Mocobizscene – Republicans in Arizona, a swing state, are promoting a tough border posture with legislation targeted at punishing illegal immigrants. One bill’s proponent claims that it would legally allow property owners to shoot and kill migrants who are illegally trespassing on their property.
Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is anticipated to veto the trespassing law, as well as one that passed the second chamber of both houses on Wednesday, making it a state crime to enter Arizona illegally between ports of entry.
“They are acting on clear political signals from voters that immigration and the border are their No. 1 issue,” Stan Barnes, a Phoenix-based political strategist and former Republican state legislator, said of the Republicans. “This is what their constituents want.”
Arrests for illegal crossings surpassed 2 million for the first time in each of the last two fiscal years, with Arizona becoming the most common crossing location in recent months.
The Republican majority in the state Senate stated that the “Arizona Border Invasion Act” was intended to “protect Arizona citizens and communities from the crime and security threats associated with the current border invasion caused by the Biden Administration’s refusal to enforce immigration laws.”
It would empower local law enforcement to arrest non-US citizens who enter Arizona from anywhere other than a legal entry point. A violation would be a first-degree misdemeanor or a low-level felony for second violations.
“I think we are seeing an effort in these bills to advance an inflammatory immigration agenda,” said Noah Schramm, policy strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona. “They seem to be trying to force Hobbs into a situation where she has to say ‘no,’ and then they can say she is unwilling to do anything on the border.”
The actions in Arizona come as Republicans in other states, most notably Texas, advocate for strong immigration legislation ahead of this year’s presidential election.
A federal court on Thursday halted a new Texas bill that would offer police extensive authority to arrest migrants suspected of unlawfully entering the country, rejecting Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s immigration enforcement efforts. The temporary injunction halting the bill came as President Joe Biden and his potential Republican challenger in November, Donald Trump, were visiting different parts of the Texas-Mexico border.
Unauthorized admission of migrants into the United States is already prohibited under federal law. However, Republicans in Arizona and Texas argue that the federal government is not doing enough and that they require stronger state authorities.
Hobbs “has declared on numerous occasions her disapproval for the lawlessness caused by the federal government’s open border policies,” said Arizona Sen. Janae Shamp, who sponsored the state border control legislation. “Now is her chance to protect the citizens of Arizona by signing.”
Hobbs announced Thursday that she intends to reject the measures, stating that she understands Arizonans’ frustration with the border situation.
“But passing job-killing, anti-business bills that demonize our communities is not the solution,” she went on to say. “Instead of securing our border, these bills will simply raise costs, hurt our farmers, put Arizona entrepreneurs out of business, and destroy jobs for countless working-class Arizonans.”
A different Arizona measure addressing trespassing has sparked concerns because its sponsor said that it may be used by farmers to legally kill anyone who crosses their property.
However, the bill’s text makes no mention of immigration or the border, instead proposing minor adjustments to an existing statute.
Republican Rep. Justin Heap offered the example of a rancher defending his property against migrants to describe his bill, which would remove “a loophole” in the previous legislation that enables a property owner to use deadly force against someone inside a dwelling but not outside on the property.
“We are seeing an increasingly larger number of migrants or human traffickers moving across farm and ranchland,” Heap told a committee hearing earlier this year.
His statement brought to mind one instance in which border rancher George Kelly faces trial later this month for fatally shooting a migrant on his Nogales property.
Abbott stated in an interview with a conservative commentator earlier this year that his state was doing everything possible to prevent migrants from crossing the border illegally, except for murdering them, “because of course the Biden administration would charge us with murder.”
This is not the first time Arizona Republican lawmakers have attempted to penalize undocumented migrants.
When passing its groundbreaking immigration reform in 2010, the Arizona Legislature explored amending the state’s trespassing legislation to criminalize the presence of immigrants and inflict criminal penalties.
However, the trespassing wording was removed and replaced with a provision that authorities, while enforcing other offenses, inquire about people’s immigration status if they are considered to be in the country illegally.
Despite critics’ concerns about racial profiling, the US Supreme Court ultimately upheld the questioning requirement, while courts restricted enforcement of other provisions of the legislation.
The measure sparked a national outcry, with proponents calling for similar legislation in their own states and adversaries calling for an economic boycott against Arizona.
Several additional Arizona immigration laws have been struck down by courts throughout the years.
