Even though her state continues to be overwhelmed by illegal immigration, Democrat Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have allowed police to arrest illegal immigrants.
On Monday, Gov. Hobbs vetoed the "Arizona Border Invasion Act" (Senate Bill 1231) which would have made illegal immigration a state crime, thus allowing police to arrest lawbreakers and do the job the Biden Administration has been loath to do.
The bill would have:
- Made it a misdemeanor to illegally enter the state between official ports of entry,
- Made it a felony to enter the state after being deported, and
- Made it a felony to refuse to refuse to comply after having been deemed inadmissible and ordered to leave.
In her veto letter, Gov. Hobbs claims the bill would not have secured the border but, instead, would have hurt Arizona’s businesses and communities, while placing an addition burden on the justice system.
The governor’s veto was not unexpected. Hobbs – who vetoed 143 bills sent her by the Republican-controlled legislature – had previously attacked the border security bill, calling it "job killing, anti-immigrant legislation meant to score cheap political points.”
Under Governor Katie Hobbs, illegal alien encounters between ports of entry by U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona have surged 51% to 273,519 through the first four months of FY2024 (Oct.-Jan.), up from 181,572 in the same period a year earlier.
The increase is entirely due to an onslaught of illegal aliens trying to sneak into the U.S. across the border in the Tucson Sector. In the first four months of FY2024, encounters between ports of entry in the Tucson sector are up 182%, from 88,741 to 250,661, compared to a year earlier. In every one of the first four months of FY2023, border encounters in the sector surged by at least 141%, compared to the same month a year earlier.
Meanwhile, in Texas, the number of U.S. Border Patrol encounters are down sharply, due to the effectiveness of Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star. Through the first four months of Fiscal Year 2024, the number of U.S Border Patrol encounters of illegal aliens between ports of entry in Texas has fallen 27% (from 484,994 to 352,996) compared to the same period year-ago.
And, on Monday, Gov. Abbott announced that a federal appeals court ruled that Texas can employ its own version of the Arizona bill, which had been blocked by a lower court.
Texas’ Senate Bill 4, which allows state law enforcement to arrest illegally aliens, will take effect on March 9, unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes.