PHOENIX — Arizona’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed a bill Tuesday to send a controversial immigration policy to voters in November, putting the border next to the president on the ballot Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump — with uncertain consequences for the presidential race and other fall campaigns.
Republicans hope this will boost conservative turnout in November. But Democrats’ characterization of the bill as the resurrection of the controversial 2010 anti-illegal immigration legislation could also increase Latino turnout toward Democrats in the general election.
HCR 2060, or the “Secure The Border Act,” will let Arizonans decide whether the state should strengthen the use of E-Verify, a federal database for verifying employment eligibility; requiring stricter penalties for fentanyl dealers; and, in its most controversial provision, giving state and local law enforcement agencies the ability to detain and deport undocumented border crossers, despite court rulings saying the power belongs to the federal government.
Republican lawmakers are using a provision that allows them to bypass the Democratic Administration. Katie Hobbs, who opposes the policy and vetoed similar legislation in March, putting the policy before voters. In a statement Tuesday, Hobbs rooted her opposition in both the economic impact of the new E-Verify requirements and the potential for racial profiling.
“Business leaders, border law enforcement officials and bipartisan local leaders across the state who oppose this bill know that it will not make us safer, but it will demonize our communities and lead to racial profiling,” Hobbs said after the legislation passed the Senate of the state of Arizona was adopted. .
The measure is almost guaranteed to face legal challenges if Arizona voters pass it this fall. The measure is inspired by a Texas law that has stalled in the courts. The state and local law enforcement powers of HCR 2060 cannot go into effect until 60 days after the Texas law is enforced.
Beyond the policy’s practical effects, the measure puts one of voters’ most important issues on the campaign trail in Arizona in a new way, alongside candidates and their platforms. Immigration was virtually tied to inflation and the cost of living and was among the top issues in NBC News’ April national poll, continuing a recent trend. On Tuesday, Biden signed an executive order temporarily halting asylum applications at the southern border as 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 that my constituents are very passionate about,” but he added: “I think my constituents will probably come out with it anyway.”
Democratic state Sen. Flavio Bravo, who represents one of Arizona’s most racially diverse districts, is cynical about the Republican intentions put forward by HCR 2060.
“This new crop of Republicans just know it will help their poll numbers,” Bravo said.
“I don’t think they’re anti-immigrant, I don’t think they care much about this. They just want to wrap up the session quickly, throw something together and pray for a win in November,” said Bravo, a grandson of a Mexican copper miner.
Opponents of HCR 2060 have already begun to mobilize against it.
“We’re going to reach out to the community, remind them to vote, let them know who’s with us and who’s not,” said Alejandra Gomez, executive director of the civil rights organization Living United For Change In Arizona. commonly known as LUCHA.
“LUCHA will campaign against the measure in eight counties – Maricopa County, Pima County and rural communities,” Gomez promised. In addition to door-knocking and phone banking in English and Spanish, the organization distributes its own newspaper, the “LUCHA Times,” to reach older Arizonans while spreading its message through social media to rally youth support.
While conventional wisdom might suggest that a reference to an immigration vote would undermine Republican turnout, Brian Murray, a political strategist for the Republican Party in Arizona, says who exactly will benefit most from it is murky five months after Election Day .
“I think there is an opportunity for soft Republican women to use this as a messaging device to keep them in the Republican camp,” Murray said. But he also said he thinks “it’s an opportunity for LUCHA and some of the grassroots Democratic organizations to really get out there and organize their vote among voters who are more likely not to vote.”
Jenny Valdovinos, 22, is a Latina graphic designer from Phoenix who ventured to the capital in May to protest HCR 2060 as it moved through the Legislature.
“I’m Mexican American, so I know people who have been affected by this kind of thing, and it’s disgusting,” Valdovinos said, referring to a 2010 law that led to racial profiling in the state.
Valdovinos believes the ballot measure will get young Latinos like herself to the polls in November. “More and more young people are getting involved, a lot of younger progressive people,” she said. “We just need to spread the word.”
She also plans to vote in favor of abortion rights if a citizen-backed initiative, the Arizona For Abortion Access Act, comes onto the ballot. But when it comes to the top of the ticket, Valdovinos says she doesn’t know who she will support.
“Biden hasn’t really done much or delivered as much as he said,” said Valdovinos, who voted for the president in her first eligible election in 2020.
“He hasn’t said or done much about Palestine,” she said, along with the president’s greenlight on a sprawling oil drilling project in Alaska, as one reason Biden has lost his shine in her eye.
Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake, the likely Republican nominee in one of the nation’s biggest battleground states, applauded the passage of HCR 2060. “Arizonans are crying out for common sense safety measures,” Lake said in a statement to NBC News. “I am encouraged that Arizona Republican lawmakers are doing their best to achieve this goal – even if they have to override Hobbs’ veto to do it,” Lake added.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
