Arizona voters poised to pass immigration crackdown

Immigration consistently ranks among the top three issues on voters’ minds in polls this election cycle. Proponents of a state-level crackdown in Arizona that is likely to pass next week say the measure reflects residents’ widespread frustration with chaos at the U.S. southern border.

If voters approve Proposition 314—a measure that allows state and local law enforcement to arrest and deport immigrants who cross the border illegally between ports of entry—Arizona will become the latest state to wade into immigration law enforcement at the state level. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a similar law last November, and since then several states have crafted their own provisions, reigniting debate over whether states have a role in immigration enforcement.

Arizona’s measure has received a fraction of the attention that accompanied Texas’ law. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, and U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, Democrat running for U.S. Senate against Republican Kari Lake, have critiqued the measure. But many politicians on both sides of the aisle recognize the measure is “immensely popular with the voters,” said David Rhodes, sheriff for Yavapai County and one of the measure’s proponents.

Recent polling appears to back him up. Nearly two-thirds of Arizona voters support the measure, according to the latest poll from Noble Predictive Insights’ Arizona Public Opinion Pulse. “Immigration and border security is the No. 1 issue,” Rhodes added. “Had the federal government done their job, you would not see this on the ballot, and the voters are now poised to pass this.”

Rhodes is also the president of the Arizona Sheriffs’ Association and represents sheriffs across the state, including those in border counties. “They have a lot of really unique public safety challenges related to illegal border crossings,” he said. In Yavapai County, situated in the middle of the Grand Canyon State, Rhodes’ constituents are concerned about fentanyl trafficking—another issue the ballot measure addresses. The act would make it a Class 2 felony if an individual who is at least 18 years old knowingly sells fentanyl that causes the death of another person.

The authors of Proposition 314, known as the Secure the Border Act, noted in the law’s text that U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered nearly 7 million immigrants attempting to enter the United States illegally via the U.S.-Mexico border between 2021 and 2023. That number does not include the estimated 2 million getaways who “evaded encounters with border officials entirely.” Arizona became a hotspot for illegal crossings earlier this year, though numbers have declined more recently.

In an effort to disincentivize illegal immigration, the act establishes criminal penalties if immigrants knowingly use false documents to apply for public benefits or employment. It also requires that state agencies use an e-verify program to check the individual’s status and ensure they are eligible for federal or state welfare benefits. Human smugglers often entice immigrants to cross unlawfully with glowing reports of employment opportunities and tax-payer funded benefits, the measure’s authors claim.

“Many of our cities are inundated,” Arizona state Sen. John Kavanagh, one of the Republican senators who unanimously approved sending Proposition 314 to the ballot, told WORLD. And it’s not just border towns that are struggling, he said. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly requested federal assistance, and some small midwestern towns, including Springfield, Ohio, are grappling with a rapid influx of arrivals. Officials have released about 2.3 million immigrants into the United States to await their immigration hearings since 2021.

The act’s most controversial provision makes it a state crime for immigrants to cross the U.S.-Mexico border into Arizona. State and local law enforcement would be permitted to arrest and detain immigrants who cross illegally, and the measure allows state judges to order deportations. If the individual chooses to leave the country voluntarily, courts will dismiss the charges, but if not, courts may charge the immigrant with a Class 4 felony.

Law enforcement must have probable cause to arrest and detain an immigrant, meaning officers must witness the individual crossing between a port of entry, view a technological recording of them doing so, or have access to some other constitutionally-sufficient measure, the measure clarifies. Kavanagh said the measure targets “bad actors” intending to evade Border Patrol. “It is narrow in focus,” he added. “This is simply a matter of getting more boots on the ground.”

But critics of the act say these guidelines are too broad and will be open to interpretation by individual officers. Alba Jaramillo is co-executive director of the Immigration Law and Justice Network and a community organizer in Tucson, Ariz. She argues Proposition 314 will “erode the trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement,” which “does not make our community safer” in the long run. Jaramillo also believes the measure will encourage racial profiling of immigrants throughout the state

She said the measure hearkens back to another Arizona law enacted in 2010. Under Senate Bill 1070, more infamously known as the “show me your papers” law, police could request to see an individual’s immigration paperwork during a traffic stop or other routine encounter if they had “reasonable suspicion” to suspect they were residing in the country illegally. The law also penalized unlawful immigrants who failed to carry registration papers and was eventually struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kavanagh described fears that Proposition 314 will inspire racial targeting as “a scare tactic.” He argued the measure will not be applied “anywhere else but on the border” because of the act’s “probable cause” provision. And the measure would not apply retroactively. In other words, immigrants who are already living in the state illegally will not be subject to the measure.

This section of Arizona’s measure will not go into effect unless Texas’ law, or a similar law in another state, has been in effect for at least 60 days. Texas’ law allows state law enforcement to charge immigrants who cross the U.S. border into the state illegally with a misdemeanor. It went into effect for only a few hours earlier this year before several advocacy organizations, El Paso County, and the U.S. Department of Justice challenged the act in federal court. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the law should remain on pause until courts decide the constitutional question on hand.

“The main question in the litigation is whether the state of Texas has exceeded its authority to regulate migration at the state level,” said Denise Gilman, who co-directs the immigration clinic for the law school at the University of Texas at Austin.

The Lone Star State’s law already reached the Supreme Court once, though the justices didn’t decide on the constitutionality of the law in their brief ruling. So it’s likely headed back, Gilman said. She believes Texas passed its measure with the goal of eventually forcing the high court to reconsider its decision in overturning Arizona’s 2010 immigration crackdown. In that decision, the court reaffirmed the federal government’s exclusive authority over immigration and ruled states may only get involved in enforcement at the behest of the federal government.

There’s also foreign policy concerns, Gilman noted. The Mexican government released a public statement against Texas’ immigration measure that warned about its potential consequences for Mexican nationals in the United States and emphasized the importance of a consistent migration policy.

“The government of Mexico was very clear that migration, immigration activities are coordinated with the U.S. federal authorities,” said Rafael Barceló Durazo, the Mexican consul in Tucson, Ariz., who shared similar concerns with WORLD about the measure on Arizona’s ballot.

Critics of Arizona’s Proposition 314 also point out that most cities and counties don’t have resources to enforce the measure. Donald Huish is the mayor of Douglas, Ariz., a small border community of about 15,300 situated directly across the border from Agua Prieta, Mexico. He understands the frustration driving Proposition 314’s popularity. “The uncertainty of the immigration situation is very trying,” he said. “The federal government kind of didn’t have a plan for any of this.”

But Huish argued the ballot measure isn’t a sustainable solution and will further tax his city’s already-understaffed police department. Grand Canyon Institute, a nonpartisan research organization, estimates the measure will cost the state $325 million annually. Huish would rather see the money spent to enforce Proposition 314 used on better surveillance cameras and more staff so that local police departments can coordinate more effectively with federal agencies.

The act does not require local law enforcement to take action if they don’t have the resources to do so, nor does it specifically allocate funding. “It was written to be permissive. It says law enforcement ‘may,’” Rhodes, the Yavapai County sheriff, noted. “It does not say that they shall.” So if the state does not provide extra funding or a specific county decides not to enforce the measure, “​​this bill will not actually have any teeth,” he said.

Still, Rhodes argued the act is an essential tool for local law enforcement to have in their tool belt. Illegal crossings reached their lowest level since 2021 in September. While President Joe Biden’s asylum restrictions have contributed to the drop, immigration experts note Mexico’s increased enforcement has played a larger role. And local law enforcement knows Mexico’s policy could change rapidly: “Nobody believes that this is going to last,” Rhodes said.

“Both parties in control of this country have epically, cataclysmically failed on border security, and they continue to fail. And so you’re seeing the states completely exasperated,” he said. “I think that there are much better ways to go about this. Unfortunately, [Proposition 314] is the only tool that’s being offered.”