Arizona voters have installed Proposition 314, also known as the “Secure the Border Act,” into its laws, making it a state crime to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.
While the measure has not been called, the “yes” votes far outweigh the “no” votes left to be counted. The law enforcement provisions of Proposition 314 are based on Texas Senate Bill 4, which is currently blocked from taking effect as a federal court determines whether the law violates the supremacy clause of the Constitution.
Arizona Senate President Republican Warren Petersen told the Arizona Republic that President-elect Donald Trump’s reelection lessened the immediate need for state laws such as Arizona’s.
“Now with the new president, it’s kind of irrelevant because we now have the federal government that’s going to enforce the law,” Petersen told the outlet. “As long as the federal government is enforcing the law, we don’t need state government to be spending resources on this.”
He said lawmakers added language that allows Proposition 314 to take effect only if federal courts clear Texas Senate Bill 4 to ensure that Arizona’s version of the law is constitutional.
“Now we have this tool in case we ever needed, if the federal government ever fails to follow the law,” he said. “Now we have something to fall back on and where we can protect our citizens.”
Arizona is now the latest state to test the limits of what local authorities can do to curb illegal immigration. Within the past year, Republican state lawmakers in Texas, Iowa, and Oklahoma have passed immigration laws that have been halted in federal courts, according to the Associated Press.
The volume of illegal crossings has fallen in recent months after President Joe Biden’s administration made moves to tighten asylum restrictions. Nonetheless, some border towns are already bracing for the implications of the law.
“We’re not aiming to particularly send units out there to be targeting or specifically looking for illegals,” Emmanuel Botello, a police lieutenant from San Luis, Arizona, told Arizona Family.
Botello said he believes the job of border security is a federal job that requires federal financial support. Crossing the border illegally in between ports of entry is already a federal crime. Yuma Police Chief Thomas Garrity said while he agrees that immigration should remain at the federal level, his police force is prepared for the “additional duties” of Proposition 314.
“We don’t have additional resources coming in as a result of this. If anything, we are getting additional work and additional duties,” he said. “To me, that’s where the big problem is going to be: the jails.”
While “yes” votes are maintaining a wide lead in almost all Arizona counties, according to unofficial results from the secretary of state, opponents of the measure say the referendum was worded too confusingly. They also point to the large number of races and propositions on the ballot as contributing to the ballot question’s approval. In Maricopa County, the ballot was two pages long, with one Phoenix-area precinct having 87 races or questions.
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“Proposition 314 will not fix the flaws in our immigration system, nor ‘secure the border’ in the way its proponents have represented,” said Noah Schramm, the border policy strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona.
The group said it was considering all legal options regarding the law.