Arizona Republicans want voter-backed border crackdown. Law enforcement say it's complicated
SAN LUIS — The day before a planned vote on a controversial immigration proposal, a group of Arizona Republican lawmakers chatted briefly with detained Latin American migrants.
The 11 Republican House members, three women and eight men, were accompanied on a trip to the border by several legislative staff members and an Arizona Republic reporter.
They spoke with detained migrants, watched as immigration officers processed them, and pitched local officials on their ballot measure. The Republicans continued their tour with a visit to Amberly's Place, a nonprofit chain that helps child and adult victims of sexual crimes and domestic violence. They also attended a briefing at the Yuma Regional Medical Center, whose executives told them the hospital spent $6 million last year on un-reimbursed migrant care. They ended the outing with a press conference.
"We think this bill is going to help everyone in the state of Arizona," said Rep. Teresa Martinez of Casa Grande.
The measure in question, House Concurrent Resolution 2060, passed the Senate on party lines last month and awaits approval Tuesday by the House.
It would ask voters in November to allow state and local police to act as border agents, locking up migrants who cross the international border any place except an official port of entry and give violators the option to self-deport to their home countries — but only if the courts uphold a similar Texas law that's currently suspended. The Arizona resolution also would beef up penalties for fentanyl sales involving death and fraudulent attempts by undocumented immigrants to obtain public benefits.
Democrats and Latino activists have steadfastly opposed the proposed ballot measure, painting it as racist and ripe for civil rights abuses. But some of the most compelling criticism of the measure comes from the people who would be tasked with enforcing the law: Arizona's border police and sheriffs.
The problem, from their point of view, would be the lack of resources enabling their forces to arrest, investigate, prosecute, and incarcerate thousands of migrants. Some estimates put the measure's potential annual cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars. It would come during a period in which lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs are trying to make massive cuts in the state budget amid tax revenue shortfalls.
Without a large infusion of cash, the measure would "bankrupt the county," said Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot, a Republican who indicated he supports the resolution.
"It's going to hurt every community throughout the state," he said.
Republicans promote resolution after border tour
The group was led by House Speaker and Congressional candidate Ben Toma of Glendale and Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines, a former state GOP chair. Also included were House Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci of Lake Havasu City, Rep. Gail Griffin of Hereford, Yuma-area Reps. Michele Pe?a and Tim Dunn, among others. Toma said all House members were invited and he was "disappointed" no Democrats accepted his invitation.
The lawmakers came upon a group of migrants being processed by Border Patrol agents at about 3:30 a.m. on a canal road near a vast lettuce farm and the Colorado River. The group of roughly 40 migrants was illuminated by the headlights of two Border Patrol trucks. They said they had been dropped off by vehicles on the Mexican side of the river.
The agents interviewed each migrant individually after separating single men from women and families. One man held a crying toddler. A man from Peru said he'd been traveling for about two weeks before arriving. A few migrants from Colombia and Paraguay told the lawmakers they came to the United States because they were members of the LGBTQ+ community and faced violence and discrimination in their country.
In the United States, "we can both be free," Jose Miller Fuentes of Bogota told The Republic of he and his partner.
State Rep. Michele Pe?a, a Spanish-speaking Republican who lives in the nearby city of Yuma, said she found that suspicious and added it sounded like the migrants had been "coached" on what to say to make an initial asylum claim.
"This is all bulls---," Rep. John Gillette of Kingman, a member of the conservative Arizona Freedom Caucus, said of the Border Patrol's method of documenting migrants before releasing them into the country. He wondered aloud why Biden administration officials don't simply shut down the border until they get it under control.
After border officials attempt to identify self-surrendered migrants, most are given court dates before the state and nonprofit agencies pay for their transportation out of state. Lines said while migrant traffic into Yuma has slowed in recent months, border officials in San Diego and elsewhere have been transporting hundreds of migrants to Yuma for processing.
Grabbing a few hours of sleep after the tour ended, Toma, Dunn and Rep. Quang Nguyen of Prescott Valley touted and defended the resolution before the Yuma County Board of Supervisors.
"It's not a racial profiling bill," Dunn told the five-member panel.
Police in border areas already detain migrants when necessary
Republicans in Arizona have expressed strong concern about the potential danger of allowing too many unvetted migrants into the country, and the inhumane treatment of migrants during their grueling passages by cartel operatives and other criminals.
Wilmot, the Yuma County sheriff, remains wary of the price tag he could be stuck with.
He presented a spreadsheet to lawmakers Monday showing the federal government has reimbursed Arizona's county sheriff offices for only a fraction of the cost to jail apprehended undocumented immigrants from 2009 to 2019. In the last reported year, the state's 15 counties requested a total of $19 million in reimbursement, but the chart showed the federal government sent only $1.3 million.
Enforcing House Concurrent Resolution 2060 could incur similar unreimbursed expenses, he said.
"I get their frustration," Wilmot said of Republican lawmakers' desire to step up immigration enforcement by the state in the absence of robust federal border control. "But what happens when the prison is full?"
Wilmot's office and other border authorities around the state already detain migrants they suspect of having illegally crossed the border, but must swiftly turn them over to federal authorities. They also help the Border Patrol through Operation Stonegarden, which pays overtime to local law enforcement officers who assist the federal agency, often by driving Border Patrol vehicles.
Wilmot said he appreciates that the resolution would remove liability from his deputies for enforcing the law, should voters approve it. Otherwise, he said, "they could sue you civilly for kidnapping."
Yuma Police Chief Thomas Garrity, who met the Republicans at Amberly's Place, told The Republic he might have to "double the police force" to try to enforce the resolution and said he was wary about its "unfunded mandate."
"If we don't have the funds to do it, what good is it?" he said. He said he's taking no official position on the resolution, but mentioned how previous attempts to have police act as immigration officials have led to mistrust between officers and the immigrant community.
Republican leaders have insisted the proposed law, if enforced, would lead to massive savings as the state spent less money on migrant crime and welfare services. Yet the state's budget shortfall and resistance by the governor would make it tough for Republicans to put money into the program if voters approve it.
"Price doesn't matter," Biasiucci said, adding that lawmakers could dip into the emergency pool of money known as the rainy day fund or cut other programs.
Nigel Reynoso, chief of the San Luis Department, made a similar point after he joined Democratic opponents of the resolution in a news conference condemning it last month.
Only three officers typically patrol the small border town on any given day, he said, and they will stop and detain anyone they see hopping over the fence until Border Patrol relieves them of the responsibility. They also arrest border crossers who are smuggling drugs or are suspected of committing other state crimes.
"We absorb the impact and that burden," he said of the migrant arrests. If the resolution becomes law, his officers would need to complete all the steps, booking the migrants into jail and doing all the paperwork while county prosecutors and courts stepped in for their parts.
"We're still going to have immigration and drugs," Reynoso told The Republic. "We're not fixing the problem."
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, a Democrat, also criticized the lack of funding that enforcing the resolution would need. But even if the Republican-controlled Legislature granted him abundant funding to enforce the resolution, he said: "In my heart, I would say that's wrong."
"It's not the sheriff's responsibility," Nanos said. "The border belongs to the federal government."
Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 480-276-3237. Follow him on X @raystern.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Law enforcement concerned about immigration measure as AZ GOP visit border