The Arizona Legislature approved a ballot measure Tuesday that would allow voters to decide whether illegal immigration should be a state crime.
The so-called “Secure Border Act” would make illegal entry into Arizona from Mexico a criminal offense and give local police the power to arrest and incarcerate migrants suspected of crossing the border between ports of entry, and give state courts the power to deport them if convicted.
The measure passed along partisan lines in the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature and will appear on the November ballot in a presidential election year that sees Joe Biden face off against Donald Trump in a key battleground state.
“Nothing good comes from an open border,” Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma said in a statement. “Only crime, deadly drugs, violence, dangerous communities and an endless financial burden for American taxpayers. Yet Democratic leaders vehemently oppose doing anything about it.”
“Arizona residents are fed up and they want change. They want safe communities and a secure border, and so do House Republicans,” he added.
“That’s why we’ve authored HCR 2060, the Border Security Act, a ballot measure with meaningful reforms to protect the integrity of Arizona’s workforce, strengthen criminal laws, and enhance the rule of law in our state. With final passage today, this measure will appear on this November’s ballot, reflecting the will of Arizona voters.”
Arizona’s Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, vetoed a similar bill in March.
Republicans in the state Legislature used a provision allowing them to put the bill to a direct vote to avoid another potential veto by Governor Hobbs.
The governor denounced HCR 2060 after it passed the Republican-controlled state Senate last month, saying it would “kill jobs, hurt businesses and hinder law enforcement’s ability to stop dangerous crimes.”
“Business leaders, Border Patrol and bipartisan local leaders across the state who oppose this bill know that far from making us safer, this bill will demonize our communities and lead to racial profiling,” Governor Hobbs said in a statement.
Federal authorities have encountered more than 412,000 migrants crossing illegally between Arizona’s Yuma and Tucson-area ports of entry this fiscal year, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
The Tucson Sector’s 373,000 encounters for fiscal year 2024 are higher than any of the other eight sectors monitored by Border Patrol agents.
The Biden administration has sued Texas, Iowa and Oklahoma to block the implementation of laws similar to Arizona’s measure, arguing that the laws are unconstitutional because they infringe on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate the entry and reentry of foreign nationals into the United States.
The ballot measure was approved the same day that President Biden, 81, announced an executive order to close the U.S.-Mexico border if the number of illegal crossings exceeds 2,500 per day for seven consecutive days, but to lift the restrictions two weeks after the seven-day average daily crossings exceeds 1,500.
Trump, 77, leads Biden in Arizona by 4 percentage points, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls.
