Arizona Democratic governor plans to veto illegal immigration bill that includes civil immunity

Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) plans to strike down a bill Republican lawmakers approved Wednesday that would criminalize illegal immigration in Arizona.  

The Senate passed the Arizona Border Invasion Act, proposed by Republican state Sen. Janae Shamp, with 16 votes. The bill would make it a crime in the state if a person came through Arizona’s border illegally, and it would protect government officials by granting them civil immunity for enforcing the law. 

“Well, I think what it’s gonna do is put the focus back where it needs to be with the states,” the senator told the Center Square.

While Senate Bill 1231 passed along party lines, Hobbs, who has a history of vetoing Republican-proposed legislation, said she plans to also turn down the bill. 

“From day one Governor Hobbs has taken strong action to secure our border and is fighting for increased funding to combat the fentanyl epidemic and expand Operation SECURE,” a spokesman for the governor said in a statement to the outlet. “SB1231 is unconstitutional, will not secure the border, and will drive away businesses and jobs from Arizona. She will not sign it.”

Other Democratic opponents of the bill said it was too similar to SB 1070, a bill passed in 2010 that allowed law enforcement to arrest people if they had “reasonable suspicion” they were in the state unlawfully. Democratic state Sen. Anna Hernandez told the outlet that criminalization isn’t the answer. 

“I think that this bill is just a direct criminalization answer. And what we have seen, and we have data that shows that criminalizing any area of policy does not yield the results that I think that we’re looking for here,” Hernandez said.

If vetoed, the bill would add to Hobbs’s pile of 143 Republican-proposed legislation she vetoed in 2023, according to the Arizona Capitol Times. 

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Shamp told the outlet she hoped the legislation would garner the governor’s approval and give law enforcement the ability to uphold the law. 

“Right now, law enforcement can’t do their jobs to protect our citizens from the overwhelming cases of human smuggling, child sex trafficking, rapes, murders, deadly fentanyl, high-speed chases, and other heinous acts carried out by the large numbers of criminals allowed to freely enter our country through the Arizona-Mexico border,” Shamp said in a statement.