By Liliana Salgado and Ted Hesson
PHOENIX (Reuters) – Arizona voters will be able to decide in the Nov. 5 election whether to support or reject a Republican-led measure that would make it a crime to cross the state border from Mexico and have state judges order deportations.
Arizona’s Republican-led House of Representatives voted 31-29 along party lines Tuesday to add a ballot measure that will leave voters wondering whether the state should implement its own immigration sanctions.
The Republican-majority Arizona Senate approved the ballot measure last month after Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed related legislation in March.
The U.S. federal government has historically enforced immigration policies, but Arizona Republicans have pushed in recent months to impose penalties at the state level. Texas, Oklahoma and Iowa have all passed similar laws, leading to legal battles with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Immigration and abortion have been top issues in the battleground state of Arizona in the run-up to the November 5 US elections. Such states are hotly contested because their populations can swing either to Republicans or Democrats.
Abortion advocates also want to add a ballot measure that would protect abortion rights.
Polls show US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Republican challenger Donald Trump in a tight race in Arizona, one of the few states that could determine the winner.
The race for a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona could also be close. The leading Democratic candidate is U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, a military veteran, and the leading Republican is former television broadcaster Kari Lake, a Trump ally.
Samara Klar, a professor at the University of Arizona, said ballot initiatives can “mobilize voters who might otherwise have no incentive to vote” and help increase turnout.
Arizona passed a state-level immigration enforcement law known as SB 1070 in 2010, but the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key provisions of the measure.
(Reporting by Liliana Salgado in Phoenix and Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Mary Milliken and Stephen Coates)
