PHOENIX – Arizona’s Republican-controlled state legislature on Tuesday passed a bill to send a controversial immigration policy to voters in November, putting the border with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on the ballot – uncertain for the presidential race and other fall campaigns. with results. .
Republicans hope that will boost conservative turnout in November. But Democrats’ characterization of the bill as a revival of controversial 2010 anti-legal immigration legislation could sway Latino voters toward Democrats in the general election as well.
HCR 2060, or the “Border Security Act,” would allow Arizonans to decide whether to enhance the use of E-Verify, the federal database for verifying the state’s employment eligibility; calling for tougher penalties for fentanyl dealers; and give state and local law enforcement the ability to detain and deport undocumented border crossers, despite court rulings whose most controversial provision says the power rests with the federal government.
GOP lawmakers are using a provision that allows them to bypass Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who opposes the policy and vetoed similar legislation in March, and put the policy before voters. In a statement Tuesday, Hobbs based his opposition on both the economic impact of the new E-Verify requirements and the potential for racial profiling.
“Business leaders, border law enforcement and bipartisan local leaders across the state who oppose this bill know that it won’t make us safer, it will demonize our communities and lead to racial profiling,” he said. .
If Arizona voters pass it this fall, the measure is guaranteed to face legal challenges. This measure was inspired by Texas law stopped in the courts. HCR 2060’s state and local law enforcement authorities cannot take effect until at least 60 days after the Texas law becomes effective.
In addition to the practical implications of politics, the measure puts one of the key issues of voters, along with the candidates and their platforms, into the Arizona campaign in a new light. Immigration was actually tied to inflation and the cost of living April NBC News national survey, continues the recent trend. Tuesday, Biden signed an executive order temporarily suspending asylum applications on the southern border, he faces pressure from voters and Trump on the issue.
Republican state Rep. Alex Kolodin, a vocal advocate of the measure in the state House, said immigration is “something my constituents are very passionate about,” but added, “I think my constituents are going to turn out anyway.”
Democratic state Sen. Flavio Bravo, who represents one of Arizona’s most racially diverse districts, resents the intentions of Republicans pushing HCR 2060.
“This new breed of Republicans just knows it’s going to help them vote,” Bravo said.
“I don’t believe they are anti-immigrant, I don’t believe they care much about this issue. They just want to finish the session quickly, throw something together and pray for victory in November,” said Bravo, the grandson of a Mexican copper miner.
Opponents of HCR 2060 have already begun to mobilize against it.
“We’re going to be knocking on the doors of the community, reminding them to vote, letting them know who stands with us and who doesn’t,” said Alejandra Gomez, executive director of civil rights organization United for Living Change Arizona. commonly known as LUCHA.
“LUCHA will be in eight counties — Maricopa County, Pima County and rural communities” campaigning against the measure, Gomez promised. In addition to door-knocking and phone banking in English and Spanish, the organization spreads its message through social media to rally youth support, and publishes its own newspaper, the LUCHA Times, to reach older Arizonans.
While conventional wisdom suggests that sending an immigration ballot would boost Republican turnout, Arizona GOP political strategist Brian Murray says who will benefit most five months from Election Day.
“I think soft Republican women have an opportunity to use that as a messaging tool to keep them in the Republican camp,” Murray said. But he said he thinks it’s “an opportunity for LUCHA and some of the Democratic organizations to really get out there and organize their vote among voters who may not have voted before.”
Jenny Valdovinos, 22, is a Latina graphic designer from Phoenix who went to the state capitol to protest HCR 2060 as it passed the legislature in May.
“I’m Mexican-American, so I know people who are affected by things like this, and it’s disgusting,” Valdovinos said, referring to the 2010 law. racial profiling in the state.
Valdovinos believes the ballot measure will get young Latinos like him to the polls in November. “More and more young people are getting involved, more and more young progressives,” he said. “We just have to spread the word.”
He also plans to vote in favor of abortion rights through a citizen-backed initiative. Arizona Abortion Access Act, put on the ballot. But when it comes to the top of the ticket, Valdovinos says he doesn’t know who to back.
“Biden hasn’t really done much or lived up to his word,” said Valdovinos, who is voting for president in his first eligible election in 2020.
“He doesn’t say anything or do much about Palestine,” she said. Green-lighting an expanding oil drilling project in Alaska.
GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake, the Republican nominee in one of the nation’s biggest battlegrounds, applauded the passage of HCR 2060. “Arizonans are crying out for common sense safety measures,” Lake said in a statement to NBC News. “I’m encouraged that Arizona’s Republican state legislators are doing everything they can to deliver this — even if they have to override Hobbs’ veto to do it,” Lake added.
Lake’s opponent, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, issued his own statement in response to Arizona’s controversial 2010 immigration law, SB 1070.
“Politicians are refusing to address our border crisis and are taking us back to a terrible time,” Gallego told NBC News, adding, “To really secure our border and keep Arizonans safe, we need to hire more border patrol agents, our front line border. deliver critical resources to our communities and fix our broken shelter system.