PHOENIX — It's a controversial bill that drew a dividing line between Democrats and Republicans in the Arizona legislature.
HRC 2060 otherwise known as the Secure the Border Act was passed by the State House Tuesday afternoon. It will now fall on voters in November to decide whether or not they want it.
If approved, the bill would allow any Arizona law enforcement officer to arrest people illegally crossing the border. An issue that has been brought up about the bill is, there is no funding associated with it. However, that didn't stop organizations and non-partisan groups from trying to find out.
Dave Wells, the research director for the Grand Canyon Institute (GCI) started looking into shortly after the bill was introduced about a month ago. He found that for enforcement, incarceration, and prosecution it would cost taxpayers about $325 million.
Wells also brought up some of changes that would come with the approval. Which includes making it a crime to submit fraudulent documents to the E-Verify system which he estimates could land 9,000 people behind bars within the six months.
"If you were to incarcerate 9,000 more people in Arizona for six months, it would cost of about $140 million," Wells said.
The bill was modeled after a Texas bill. The difference between what Arizona proposed is that the legislature didn't give any funding associated with it while Wells said Texas is prepared to spend $4 billion over the next few years for enforcement.
Even with Arizona's smaller border, Wells said the state still doesn't have the money to cover the necessary costs. He said Arizona is currently in a structural deficit because lawmakers lowered taxes by $2 billion.
"We have teacher shortages and other kinds of infrastructure needs in the state, and this is going to compete with those for that," Wells said. "That's going to be a real challenge, I think, for the state, if this ends up being implemented by voters."
GCI is not the only organization researching this topic. A report done by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates HCR 2060 will cost the state $3.2 billion annually.
Both FAIR and GCI's findings are listed in the Joint Legislative Budget Committee report that was released last week. The non-partisan group claims the Arizona Department of Public Safety would spend million of dollars for enforcement. Arizona's court systems would have to pay more for transportation and interpreter services. It also claims the Department of Corrections would have to pay close to $17 million in 2025 to house all the inmates.
There is a disclaimer that writes more data needs to be collected to get more accurate numbers.
Wells said his organization plans to take a deeper dive into the numbers soon.
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