The wave of strong reactions in the US to the surge of illegal immigrants in the country is growing and after Texas, other states are following suit.
Arizona Republicans are giving local police the power to arrest migrants crossing the border, copying a Texas law that is being challenged by the US federal government and currently being challenged by the Supreme Court.A wave of strong reactions is growing in the US over the surge of illegal immigrants in the country, and after Texas, other states are taking their turn.
Arizona Republicans are giving local police the power to arrest immigrants crossing the border, copying a Texas law that is being challenged by the Supreme Court and currently being challenged by the US federal government.
The Arizona Immigration Act (Senate Bill 1231) makes it a crime for an undocumented person to attempt to enter the state from Mexico, or from anywhere other than a port of entry.
Law enforcement officials in Arizona are authorized to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illegally, and conviction is a Class 1 misdemeanor, which carries a prison sentence of up to 6 months.
It would also allow state judges to issue deportation orders as well.
Repeated drug-related immigration crossings could lead to tougher punishments.
If the immigrant agrees to return to Mexico voluntarily, the judge could drop the first-offense charges.
Republican senators supported the proposal at a press conference and cited it as an effective way to resolve the congested flows at the Arizona-Mexico border.
The Tucson sector, covering the longest stretch of the Arizona state border (262 miles), was the sector of the US-Mexico border with the most migrant incursions for five straight months last year.
"Arizona is in crisis," said Senate President Warren Petersen. "This is directly due to the negligent inaction of the Biden administration," he said.
With the 2024 election on the horizon, Republicans are trying to paint the federal government's border policy as a major failure, and showcase their party's hardline stance on immigration.
Any deal in Congress to impose tighter immigration restrictions in exchange for more funding for Ukraine has stalled as Republicans seek bigger changes to asylum laws.
Negotiations seem to have begun to break down, since former President Donald Trump, currently in the race for the leadership of the Republican party, is strongly opposed to the politics of the current President T. Biden.
Petersen, a Republican senator from Gilbert, said that "responsibility for border security is the sole responsibility of the federal government, but now rests with local officials," and warned that failure to do so would endanger not only the people of Arizona, but the entire country."
“These are not just innocent people looking for a better life. These are smugglers, traffickers of child prostitution, rapists, murderers, terrorists and dangerous criminals. They bring with them a huge amount of drugs, especially fentanyl," he said.
As the US state grapples with a sharp increase in overdose deaths from synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, Republicans have sounded the alarm about drug smuggling efforts across the US-Mexico border.
Reports from US Customs and Border Protection actually show that the vast majority of fentanyl is smuggled by US citizens through ports.
Senator Janae Sabb said Arizona was "targeted for an invasion."
The invasion jargon has been used repeatedly by Republican senators who want draconian border policies.
The bottom line is that as we get closer to the US presidential election, given the crisis in Texas and now in Arizona, the backlash will grow even more.
