PHOENIX — This November, voters will get to decide on the highly-debated Proposition 314. It's also known as the Arizona immigration and border law enforcement measure or the "Secure the Border Act."
The ballot measure covers some heavy topics and has drawn in a lot of debate. We're bringing you a breakdown of what the proposition includes and why it's attracted so much controversy.
Voting 'Yes' for Prop. 314 includes:
- Making it a state crime for noncitizens to illegally cross the border
- Allows state and local police to arrest those who cross the border illegally
- Allows judges to order deportations
- Requires an E-Verify program to determine immigration status of individuals before the enrollment in a financial aid or public welfare program
- Makes it a Class 6 felony to submit false information to an employer to evade detection of employment eligibility or to apply for public benefits
- Makes it a Class 2 felony for anyone who sells fentanyl that results in the death of another person
Support, Opposition
This bill was brought up by the Arizona legislature, not the people of Arizona. According to a Noble Predictive Insights (NPI) poll 63% of voters support Prop. 314 and 16% don’t.
Since its introduction, the bill has attracted controversy as supporters and detractors jockey to make their stance heard.
“It’s a great idea in general concept, I think where it struggles is in the details," Yuma mayor Douglas Nicholls said.
“Addiction, lives ruined, homelessness. The pressure of number of illegal immigrants entering the country creates huge pressures on social services, schools, all sorts of things," attorney James Rogers says.
“We understand there’s a border crisis that’s happening," José Patiño, VP of Aliento said. "We understand there’s a need to solve the fentanyl crisis however, this proposition doesn’t fix any of that.”
Since Jan. 1, 2021, more than 10 million people have crossed the border illegally according to the Committee of Homeland Security. Those who support Prop. 314 argue that the state of Arizona has a constitutional right to make the determination if it needs to defend itself.
“It’s called the State Self Defense clause," Rogers stated. "It’s in article 1 section 10 of the constitution. It says the state may defend itself if it’s being invaded.”
Impact on Local Justice System & Economy
In the past 31 months, the Cochise County Sheriff's Office booked over 3,700 people for border crimes, but there's worry that making immigration arrests would be too much for local law enforcement.
“This makes a huge impact to our criminal justice system," Cochise County sheriff Mark Dannels said. “We’re just talking about incarceration, which costs about 12.5 million dollars from my local citizens," Sheriff Dannels added. "I don’t have the funding or infrastructure for it.”
“Many of these individuals are fleeing extreme violence and life-threatening circumstances," Monica Villalobo, president of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce added. "So, our prison system would be a walk in the park. There's no evidence whatsoever that the threat of punishment will reduce illegal border crossings.”
Villalobo also calls Prop. 314 bad for business.
“There may be cost to employment, could cause loss of workforce, and other economic driving factors.”
Villalobo says there are currently 610,000 undocumented people in Arizona and they contribute $5 billion to the state's economy.
“The undocumented immigrants make up less than 1% of the state's population but contribute more than 1% to the state's economy.”
Arizona governor Katie Hobbs has already vetoed the bill, but GOP leadership gave it directly to the voters to bypass the governor. The governor's office issued a statement to 12 News saying:
“Governor Hobbs has consistently said that she shares every Arizonan frustration with the federal government’s failure to secure our border. But passing job-killing, anti-business ballot initiatives that demonize our communities is not the solution. Instead of securing our border Prop. 314 will simply raise costs, hurt our farmers, put Arizona entrepreneurs out of business, and destroy jobs for countless working-class Arizonans.”
SB1070 2.0?
Some of those against the bill are calling it a copy-cat of SB1070 which people called the 'Anti-Immigrant' law. In 2012, the United States Supreme Court struck down three out of the four main provisions of the bill. Now there's concern of racial profiling or this bill hurting families.
“You would have raids happening near schools. That happened when I was in high school," Patiño said. "We saw it near hospitals, and churches. So, these are the things that we oppose.”
However, Sheriff Dannels says racial profiling has not been a problem in Cochise county.
"I've been working this border for over 40 years, I can't tell you one incident from a federal agency, local or state that I've witnessed personally someone go after someone because of a race issue," Sheriff Dannels said. "When I hear that it's upsetting. I encourage those people to come down to my office and see how many we're protecting compared to what their narrative is."
Lack of Federal Help
Officials who work in cities along the southern border want to be in support of it, but say without federal funds or resources it will overwhelm local authorities and their justice systems.
"The federal government needs to engage in this, needs to acknowlegde it and prioritize it," Sheriff Dannels said.
There are about 100 undocumented people illegally coming through the Yuma’s 126 mile-long sector a day, and Mayor Nicholls says he’s concerned there’s no federal funding to help enact this bill.
“I want to vote yes, but I don’t think I will be voting yes because of this unfunded mandate," Mayor Nicholls said. “I think more conversation really should’ve been had on what this could do or what it could look like."
“I think it will pass there’s no doubt in my mind. The questions is, where is the federal government in all of this?" Sheriff Dannels asked. "We’re trying to do something at the local and state level that the federal government should be doing.”
Arizonans can vote on Prop. 314 November 5, 2024.
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