Arizona Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake called out Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs for her announced plan to veto a border security bill approved by the Arizona Senate on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 1231, the “Arizona Border Invasion Act,” would make it a violation of state law to enter from Mexico unless it is through a legal port of entry, The Center Square reported.
GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a similar bill into law in his state in December.
SB 1231 was approved in the state Senate along strict party lines in the Republican-controlled chamber, 16-13, with one Democrat not voting.
House Republicans are pushing identical legislation — HB 2821 and 2748 — in the Legislature’s lower chamber, according to The Arizona Republic.
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The Senate bill’s sponsor, Republican Janae Shamp, told The Center Square that the law would “put the focus back where it needs to be with the states.”
“They’re not enforcing anything,” the lawmaker said of the Biden administration’s border policies.
Shamp added that she hoped Hobbs would sign the bill.
However, a spokesman for the governor said in a statement, “SB 1231 is unconstitutional, will not secure the border, and will drive away businesses and jobs from Arizona,” according to the Arizona Capitol Times.
Should Arizona enforce its border with Mexico?
“She will not sign it,” he said.
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-3 decision, struck down portions of Arizona law SB 1070, which had authorized more sweeping powers to state law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law. The court ruled federal law pre-empted state law in the portions it struck down.
Democratic lawmakers have argued that SB 1231 is too similar.
Lake, who narrowly lost to Hobbs in the 2022 governor’s race, which was marred by widespread Election Day voter machine malfunctioning in Maricopa County, responded forcefully on social media to the governor’s plans to veto the bill.
“I recognize that Arizona is becoming a pipeline for child trafficking, human trafficking, drug trafficking, and crime, all due to that wide open border. That’s why I ran for Governor with the strongest border plan this country has ever seen,” she wrote Thursday on X.
Lake asserted that Hobbs has no plan to deal with the crisis and “has done nothing to stop the invasion.”
“Our Republican legislature took matters into their own hands with the ‘Arizona Border Invasion Act,’ which would criminalize crossing into Arizona under state law unless it is through a legal port of entry at the border and give civil immunity to government employees who enforce the law,” the Republican said.
“Hobbs has already said she will veto it, because the [Arizona Democratic Party] is the party of open borders,” she concluded.
I recognize that Arizona is becoming a pipeline for child trafficking, human trafficking, drug trafficking, and crime, all due to that wide open border. That’s why I ran for Governor with the strongest border plan this country has ever seen. @KatieHobbs has no plan
She has… pic.twitter.com/T4US1JWG87
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) February 22, 2024
A Hobbs spokesman countered the charge that she is not addressing the border crisis, saying, “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,” The Center Square reported.
In December, the governor’s office announced it was launching Operation Safety, Enforcement, Coordination, & Uniform Response “to mobilize additional state resources to bring order and security to the border.”
The plan called for the establishment of a new Border Security Office to “serve as a hub of coordination for border security operations to ensure local, state, and federal assets are being properly leveraged to keep Arizonans safe and maintain a secure, humane, and orderly border.”
“In addition, unless the Biden Administration promptly reopens the port of entry, the operation will mobilize up to $5 million for the National Guard to augment and support the Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement agencies along the southern border, including fentanyl interdiction efforts,” Hobbs’ office said.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol closed the Lukeville Port of Entry in Arizona on Dec. 1 and reassigned officers to deal with the flood of migrant crossings into the U.S. illegally through the desert, the Republic reported.
So Operation SECURE appeared to be a direct response to the port of entry being shut down.
“The Governor has written a letter to President Biden urging that the 243 National Guard members already in the Tucson Sector be put to use to support reopening the Lukeville Point of Entry,” Hobbs’ office said.
The Tucson Sector, which includes Lukeville, has become one of the main hot spots for illegal border crossings since Texas cracked down on illegal immigration.
Texas has also taken other measures, including building border walls and barriers, to make crossings more difficult.
In October, Abbott contended his state has the right to take these actions under the authority found in Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution to stop an invasion.
When Lake ran for governor in 2022, she pledged on her first day in office she would declare an invasion and take many of the steps that Texas has since taken.
Customs and Border Protection data show that while illegal entries have fallen significantly in Texas this fiscal year compared with the same months last year, crossings in the Tucson Sector are up 182 percent, and in neighboring California in the San Diego Sector they are up 74 percent.
Hobbs said last month that she has taken a “different direction than Texas” in dealing with the border crisis.
“We’re continuing to voice our frustration with the Biden administration and talk to them about how they can do better. But what Texas is doing is not the answer for Arizona,” the governor said.
Disclosure: Floyd Brown, one of the owners and founder of The Western Journal, is voluntarily serving as chairman of Kari Lake’s Senate campaign.
