An immigration proposal will appear on Arizona’s November ballot, the state Supreme Court decides
PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that a proposal that would allow local police to make arrests near the state’s border with Mexico will appear on the ballot for voters to vote on Nov. 5.
It marks the largest effort to involve local authorities in immigration enforcement since the state’s landmark 2010 law requiring police to ask people’s immigration status in certain situations.
The court late Tuesday afternoon rejected a challenge from Latino groups that argued the ballot measure violated a rule in the state Constitution that requires bills to address a single subject. In an order written by Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer, the state’s highest court found that the measure satisfies the single-subject rule.
If the bill, known as Proposition 314, is approved by voters, it would make it a crime to cross the Arizona-Mexico border except at a border crossing. It would also give state and local law enforcement the power to arrest violators and allow state judges to order people to return to their home countries.
In addition, it would become a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison for selling fentanyl that can kill a person. It would also require some government agencies to use a federal database to verify a noncitizen’s eligibility for benefits.
The bill will go before voters in a state expected to play a crucial role in determining which party controls the White House and the U.S. Senate. Republicans hope it will draw attention to the border and dilute the political gains Democrats seek from a vote on abortion rights.
Opponents had argued the proposal concerned the unrelated topics of immigration enforcement, the fentanyl crisis and the regulation of public utilities. A lower court had previously rejected those arguments.
Although federal law already bars unauthorized immigrants from entering the U.S., proponents of the measure say it is needed because the federal government has not done enough to deter people from illegally crossing Arizona’s porous border with Mexico. They also say some people who enter Arizona without authorization commit identity fraud and abuse public services. Opponents say the proposal would lead to racial profiling, harm Arizona’s reputation among businesses and impose huge unfunded costs on police departments that typically fail to enforce immigration law.
In early June, the Republican-controlled legislature voted to put the measure on the ballotwith which she bypassed Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, who a similar measure vetoed early March and had condemned the attempt to bring the issue to the attention of voters.
This isn’t the first time Republican lawmakers in Arizona have tried to criminalize migration.
When the 2010 immigration law was passed, the Arizona Legislature considered expanding the trespassing law to criminalize the presence of immigrants and impose criminal penalties. But the trespassing language was removed and replaced with a requirement that officers, while enforcing other laws, question the immigration status of people suspected of being in the country illegally.
The interrogation requirement was ultimately upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court despite critics’ concerns about racial profiling, but courts have blocked enforcement of other parts of the law. Earlier this week, the Arizona secretary of state’s office said that proponents of a proposal to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution had collected enough signatures to put the measure on the November ballot. If approved, it would allow abortions until a fetus can survive outside the womb, usually around 24 weeks, with exceptions to save the mother’s life or protect her physical or mental health. Abortion is currently legal for the first 15 weeks of pregnancy in Arizona.