0: Arizona voters could decide whether to criminalize migrant crossings along the
state's border with Mexico.
It's part of Republican's efforts in the legislature to keep border security
front and center. This year,
Republican lawmakers in Arizona are set to override a governor's veto to
empower local law enforcement to enforce US immigration laws.
It's part of their efforts to even the playing field come November.
An abortion measure,
which has already gathered enough signatures to get on the ballot,
is expected to turn out Democratic voters.
Republicans are now poised to send a ballot measure on border security,
an issue they pull better in HCR 2060, also known as Secure.
The Border Act would make it a state misdemeanor to cross the Arizona border in
between ports of entry.
It would also allow local police to arrest and deport migrants.
1: My constituents are already fearful.
They're already fearful for their safety,
for their lives, for their property,
and this is because we have unlimited,
unchecked mass illegal immigration across our border.
0: HCR 2060 is expected to pass the legislature along party lines.
But even if Arizona voters approve the ballot measure in November,
there's no guarantee yet it could go. In effect,
the Secure the Border Act is modeled after Texas's Senate Bill four.
That law is held up in federal courts from taking effect,
and the Supreme Court will likely decide whether it's Constitutional.
Arizona would join five other republican-led states that already passed laws
enabling state officials to enforce immigration laws along with Texas.
They are Georgia, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
The states are defying 150 years of immigration precedent under
which federal government has sole authority.
But if US Courts uphold Texas as before many more states could follow
suit.