Prop. 314 passes, allowing local AZ law enforcement to arrest, deport unauthorized immigrants

A new Arizona law giving power to the state to jail and deport migrants who have crossed the border illegally will be going into effect after voters approved the proposition with 62.93% in favor at 97% of precincts reporting.

Prop. 315 will require police and border patrol agents to use the e-verify program that determines immigration status. After which, local police can arrest the individual and a state judge can order deportation. Additionally, the proposition makes it a Class 6 felony for those who submit false information or documents and it raises the sale of fentanyl to a Class 2 felony if the sale results in the death of another person.

According to the proposed proposition, the “people of the State of Arizona” have found a need for this law.

“Due to weaknesses in immigration enforcement, a public safety crisis is occurring in Arizona, caused by transnational cartels engaging in rampant human trafficking and drug smuggling across this state's southern border,” reads the proposition. “From 2021 to 2023, United States Customs and Border Protection encountered two hundred eighty-two individuals on the terrorist watch list illegally entering the southwest border between ports of entry. This is a 3033% increase over the prior three years when only nine such individuals were encountered.”

Additionally, according to this proposition, Arizona is being “actually invaded.” And, according to the election results, voters agree.

Democratic Rep. Analise Ortiz has said that this proposition resembles SB 1070 which was decided to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. This bill was passed in 2010 with the intention to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants in the state. The law required local police to ask for proof of documentation if they had “reasonable suspicion” of someone being in the country illegally which led to racial profiling.

The law was partially struck down in 2012.

Republican Sen. John Kavanagh said during a debate in September that Prop. 314 is different from SB 1070 in that police would be apprehending people at illegal border crossings and would need “probable cause” to arrest them.

“In between the crossings, there’s very little policing [and] that’s why the worst of the worst, the dangerous people are coming in,” Kavanagh said. “Public safety is our number one priority.”

One of Ortiz’ other concerns about Prop. 314 is where the funding will come from. There is no funding attached to the proposition, requiring local law enforcement and prisons to foot that cost. The Department of Corrections has already spoken out against the bill, saying it will overcrowd prisons and cost about $325 million per year.

Kavanagh countered this by saying that if people are deterred from illegally crossing the border, the government will not have to pay additional costs that come from unauthorized immigrants being in the U.S.

Ortiz said that she supports the Emergency National Security Supplemental Act which would appropriate $118 billion to expand detention facilities and hire more border control agents, asylum officers and immigration judges. This bill was struck down in the U.S. Senate after Trump dissuaded senate members from voting for it.

“We should allocate more money to make sure the ports of entry have updated technology [and] enough agents staffed to catch those illegal drugs that are coming through,” Ortiz said.