Arizona Republicans push laws against migrants entering illegally

Arizona Republicans are taking an uncompromising stance on the border with bills seeking to punish illegal immigrants. migrants who illegally enter USA. The proponent of one bill has indicated it would legally allow property owners to shoot and kill migrants who trespass on their property.

Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, is expected to veto the trespassing bill, as well as another that passed both Houses of Congress on Wednesday that would make it a state crime to trespass into Arizona between ports. border entry points.

Stan Barnes, a Phoenix-based political consultant and former Republican state senator, said GOP lawmakers “are acting on clear political signals from voters that immigration and the border are their number one issue.”

“This is what his constituents want,” he said.

Arrests for illegal crossings surpassed 2 million for the first time in each of the last two fiscal years, and Arizona became the most popular area to cross in recent months.

State Senate Republicans said the so-called Arizona Border Invasion Act “would protect Arizona citizens and communities from the crime and security threats associated with the ongoing border invasion sparked by the government’s refusal to Biden to enforce immigration laws.”

The law would allow local law enforcement agencies to detain non-U.S. citizens entering Arizona at any location other than a legal point of entry. A violation would be a first-level misdemeanor, and a low-level felony for repeat offenses.

“I think in these bills we see the intention to promote an inflammatory immigration agenda”said Noah Schramm, political strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) 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’s not willing to do anything about the border.”

The maneuvers in Arizona coincide with the campaign that Republicans are carrying out in several states, especially in Texas, where they are promoting strict immigration policies on the eve of this year’s presidential elections.

A federal judge on Thursday blocked a new Texas law that would give police broad powers to detain migrants suspected of entering the country illegally. USA, rejecting Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s claim to enforce immigration laws. The interdict that suspends the entry into force of said law was issued while President Joe Biden and his probable Republican rival in the November elections, donald trumpthey visited different areas of the Texas border with Mexico.

Federal law already prohibits the unauthorized entry of immigrants into the United States. But Republicans in Arizona and Texas say the U.S. government is not doing enough and they need additional state powers.

Hobbs “has stated on numerous occasions his disapproval of the lawlessness caused by the federal government’s open border policies,” said Arizona Sen. Janae Shamp, who sponsored the state’s border control bill. “This is your chance to protect the citizens of Arizona by signing it.”

Hobbs confirmed Thursday that he planned to veto the bills and said he is aware that Arizona citizens are frustrated by the situation at the border.

“But the approval of bills that kill jobs, that go against companies and demonize our communities is not the solution,” he claimed. “Instead of protecting our border, these bills will simply increase costs, hurt our farmers, put Arizona business owners out of business, and destroy jobs for countless Arizona workers.”

Another Arizona initiative revolving around trespassing has raised alarm due to the author’s stated intention that it could be used by farmers to legally kill people who trespass on their property.

But the wording of this bill makes no mention of migrants or border, and instead makes few changes to an existing law.

Republican Rep. Justin Heap used the example of a rancher defending his property from migrants, saying his proposal would close “a loophole” in the previous law, which allows a property owner to use deadly force against someone on his property. your residence, but not elsewhere on your property.

“We see more and more migrants or human traffickers moving through our lands,” Heap said during a commission hearing earlier this year.

His statement recalled the case in which George Kelly, owner of a ranch near the border, will go on trial next month for shooting a migrant to death on his property in the Nogales metropolitan area.

During an interview with a conservative analyst a few weeks ago, Abbott said his state was doing everything it could to prevent migrants from crossing the border illegally, except shooting them, “because, of course, the federal government would charge us with murder.”

It is not the first time that Republican legislators in Arizona have attempted to criminalize migrants who are in USA without legal authorization.

In approving its landmark 2010 immigration initiative, the state Legislature considered expanding the state’s trespassing law to criminalize the presence of immigrants and impose criminal penalties.

But the trespass language was removed and replaced with a requirement that, when enforcing other laws, police question a person’s immigration status if they were presumed to be in the country illegally.

The federal Supreme Court ultimately upheld the requirement that police officers ask immigration status, despite concerns of racial profiling raised by critics; However, the courts prohibited the application of other sections of the law.

The law sparked a national furor, with supporters calling for similar measures for their states and opponents demanding an economic boycott for Arizona.

Several other Arizona immigration laws have been thrown out by courts over the years.