Arizona Senate Advances Proposed Ballot Measure to Let Local Police Make Border-Crossing Arrests; ‘Secure Border Act’ Will Cost AZ Millions to Enforce. And That Might Make It Unconstitutional; Tucson Reclaims Position as Busiest Migrant Border Crossing Sector

Arizona Senate advances proposed ballot measure to let local police make border-crossing arrests:

The Arizona Senate approved a proposed ballot measure that would ask voters in November to make it a state crime for noncitizens to enter the state through Mexico at any location other than a port of entry.

The proposal approved Wednesday on a 16-13 party-line vote would draw Arizona directly into immigration enforcement by letting state and local police arrest people crossing the border without authorization and giving state judges the power to order people convicted of the offense to return to their country of origin. The measure, similar to a Texas law that has been put on hold by a federal appeals court while it is being challenged, now advances to the Republican-controlled Arizona House. If approved by the full Legislature, the measure would bypass Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who had vetoed a similar proposal two months ago, and instead would be sent to the Nov. 5 ballot for voters to decide.

Before the vote was taken, a handful of immigrant rights supporters yelled, “Stop the hate, stop the hate,” interrupting the debate and profanely calling supporters of the measure racists before the advocates walked out of the chamber.

While federal law already prohibits the unauthorized entry of migrants into the U.S., proponents say the measure is needed because the federal government hasn’t done enough to stop people from crossing illegally over Arizona’s porous border with Mexico. They also said some people who enter Arizona without authorization commit identity theft and take advantage of public benefits.

“We are being invaded,” said Republican Jake Hoffman of Queen Creek. Opponents say the proposal would hurt Arizona’s reputation in the business world, carry huge unfunded costs for law enforcement agencies that don’t have experience in enforcing immigration law, and lead to racial profiling of immigrants, legal residents, and U.S. citizens.

“This bill is going to create all sorts of chaos,” said Democratic Sen. Catherine Miranda of Phoenix. Under the proposal, a first-time conviction of the border-crossing provision would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail, and state judges could order people to return to their country of origin after completing a term of incarceration, though they also would have the power to dismiss a pending charge if the person agrees to return to their home country. —>READ MORE HERE

‘Secure Border Act’ will cost Az millions to enforce. And that might make it unconstitutional:

Arizona Republicans want to give local police officers permission to arrest migrants, but there’s no plan to cover the costs that law enforcement officials and even the GOP backers of the proposal say it will incur — and failing to account for that price tag might make the entire proposal unconstitutional.

Packaged into a ballot referral to evade Gov. Katie Hobbs’ veto, the “Secure the Border Act” would ask voters in November to decide whether Arizona should be allowed to enforce immigration law, in blatant disregard of decades of court rulings which determined that power is constitutionally reserved for the federal government. The referral would make it a state crime for migrants to cross the border anywhere except a port of entry, and it would allow Arizona police officers to arrest them and Arizona judges to write orders of deportation.

But Republicans have refused to allocate any funding to make the proposal’s requirements a reality, despite repeated warnings from law enforcement and state officials about the inevitable costs.

And that could be a major problem: Arizona’s Constitution mandates that any ballot measure that increases state spending must not only provide money to pay for those costs, but that money can’t come out of the state’s general operating account.

GOP lawmakers, law enforcement agree it will cost money

While the proposal seeks to bolster the authority of the state’s law enforcement agencies and courts, it doesn’t address how to pay for their new roles. Initial estimates, however, are staggering. In Texas, where GOP lawmakers passed a law last year that the Arizona version is modeled after, more than $11 billion of taxpayer money has been set aside to fund the state’s restrictive border policies.

A report from a nonpartisan think tank projected that taxpayers in Arizona will be on the hook for at least $325 million a year if the referral is approved.  Arizona’s state prisons chief estimates that the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry will be forced to shoulder $225 million over the next five years because the proposal requires the department to house migrants arrested under its provisions if the counties where the arrests occurred don’t have the capacity to do so.

And local law enforcement officials, including those who support the proposal, have sounded the alarm over the lack of dedicated funding. Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes and Cochise County Sheriff Mark Lamb, two Republicans who have frequently touted their support for the ballot referral, told lawmakers on May 8 that law enforcement agencies will need the state to cough up money so they can carry out the proposal’s directives.

“If the majority of voters in this state approve this bill, if they vote to pass this bill, anticipating that local law enforcement will become more involved in border security, border enforcement, then we’re going to be coming to all of our elected leaders and asking you to honor the will of the voters and provide the resources necessary to enforce the bill that they passed,” Rhodes told lawmakers during a joint hearing held by the Senate Military Affairs, Public Safety & Border Security and the House Judiciary Committees. —>READ MORE HERE

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+++++Tucson Reclaims Position as Busiest Migrant Border Crossing Sector+++++

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