The Arizona House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill that will allow voters to decide the fate of the state's border security.
Modeled after a Texas law, HCR 2060, titled the Border Security Act, passed the state House on a party-line vote, with Republicans holding a slim one-vote majority in the chamber.
The bill, which has already passed the Senate, would criminalize illegal entry into Arizona and allow local authorities to enforce federal immigration laws, while allowing state judges to deport people convicted of violate the new law.
SWING STATE GOP SEEKS TO PREVENT DEM GOVERNOR AND PUT TEXAS-STYLE BORDER LAW BEFORE VOTERS
Immigrants line up at a remote Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 7, 2023, in Lukeville, Arizona. (John Moore/Getty Images)
“Nothing good comes from open borders,” Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma said in a statement to the New York Post. “Just crime, deadly drugs, violence, unsafe communities and an endless financial drain on American taxpayers. Yet Democratic leaders are fiercely opposed to doing anything about it.”
Arizona's Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, vetoed similar legislation earlier this year and has voiced opposition to the new effort, although this time the Republican bill will bypass the governor and go before voters in November for approval. approval.
“To the contrary, it will be detrimental to our state's businesses and communities and a burden on law enforcement personnel,” Hobbs said in a statement about the legislation. “I know there is frustration over the federal government's failure to secure our border, but this bill is not the solution.”
BORDER STATE GOP PUSH TO CHALLENGE WHITE HOUSE AND ADOPT TX-STYLE IMMIGRATION LAW
But Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen has argued that the bill, which was inspired by Texas's controversial SB 4 legislation, is the right solution to securing the state's border, while noting that it is not similar. to an Arizona law known as SB 1070 that was partially struck down by the Supreme Court.
“This is not SB 1070,” Petersen told Fox News Digital last month as the bill advanced in the state Senate. “We're really just dealing with the border…this is really a border security bill. It's not an immigration bill.”
Immigrants walk along the border barrier between the United States and Mexico on their way to await Border Patrol processing on December 30, 2022 in Yuma, Arizona. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
Arizona's new effort will now be presented to voters on the same ballot that will decide between former President Trump and President Biden in this year's election.
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Arizona, a critical swing state won by Biden narrowly in 2020, promises to be close again. According to Real Clear Politics' average of polls in the state, Trump currently has a four-point lead over Biden.
