As the border crisis rages, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and 19 fellow governors are calling on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to take action to end the humanitarian debacle.
Just this week, Chief Patrol Agent Chris T. Clem tweeted: #YumaSector agents encountered a nine-year-old girl and a 12- and 17-year-old boy on the west side of Yuma Sunday morning after they illegally crossed the border into the U.S. by themselves. In the last week, agents have apprehended 24 unaccompanied children under the age of 13.
#YumaSector agents encountered a nine-year-old girl and a 12- and 17-year-old boy on the west side of Yuma Sunday morning after they illegally crossed the border into the U.S. by themselves. In the last week, agents have apprehended 24 unaccompanied children under the age of 13. pic.twitter.com/fqw35CV5GL
— Chief Patrol Agent Chris T. Clem (@USBPChiefYUM) May 10, 2021
The governors are asking the Biden administration to end what they say are “destructive policies that have created the crisis at the southern border.”
They remind the administration that their letter “follows months of deteriorating conditions at the border in Arizona and other states.”
According to the governors, in March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 172,000 encounters, the highest number in nearly 20 years, as well as 18,890 unaccompanied children, the largest monthly number in history.
Also on Tuesday, the Arizona Attorney General tweeted: April stats from DHS show another record-number of encounters w/ migrants– more than 178,000 last month, including 17,000+ minors (not including “got-aways”). The longer the President maintains his reckless immigration policies, the worse this crisis at our border will get.
“As a border state, Arizona is on the front lines of the border crisis. We feel the impacts of human trafficking, drug smuggling, and this humanitarian crisis first,” said Ducey. “Now, the Biden-Harris border crisis is affecting other states too. And it’s clear the crisis is the direct result of this administration’s broken policies and botched messaging.”
“Arizona has deployed all available resources, including the National Guard, but we need federal cooperation to secure the border,” Governor Ducey said. “Today, I am joining 19 fellow governors to call for immediate action from President Biden and Vice President Harris to stop this crisis before it gets even worse.”
Arizona has been calling for action on the border crisis from the federal government for months. Last month, Governor Ducey declared a state of emergency at the southern border and deployed the Arizona National Guard to support law enforcement agencies in border regions. The Governor visited a wide-open section of the border in Yuma and called on President Biden to issue a national state of emergency on the border. Governor Ducey and Texas Governor Greg Abbott also wrote a joint op-ed in the Washington Post.
Signers of the letter include Governors Bill Lee, of Tennessee, Kay Ivey, of Alabama, Asa Hutchinson, of Arkansas, Brian Kemp, of Georgia, Brad Little, of Idaho, Eric Holcomb, of Indiana, Kim Reynolds, of Iowa, Tate Reeves, of Mississippi, Governor Mike Parson, of Missouri, Governor Greg Gianforte, of Montana, Governor Pete Ricketts, of Nebraska, Governor Chris Sununu, of New Hampshire, Governor Doug Burgum, of North Dakota, Governor Kevin Stitt, of Oklahoma, Governor Henry McMaster, of South Carolina, Governor Kristi Noem, of South Dakota, Governor Greg Abbott, of Texas, Governor Spencer Cox, of Utah, and Governor Mark Gordon, of Wyoming.
What promised to be Republicans’ most impactful state election integrity bill of the legislative session did not get voted on Monday, despite being on the calendar for a final reading in the State Senate.
Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita’s SB1485 has the potential to drop more than 207,000 inactive voter names from the Permanent Early Voter List (PEVL). Removal would not happen if a voter responds to a written notice about the impending change, which in no way alters or impacts a voter’s registration status.
Arizona’s 15 county recorders would collectively save tens of thousands of dollars each election through reduced printing and postage costs. But the biggest selling point for SB1485 is its election integrity benefit of ensuring 207,000 early ballots are not put into the U.S. mail system if voters do not intend to use them.
Getting Ugenti-Rita’s bill to Gov. Doug Ducey had been considered a sure thing due to Senate Republicans holding a 16 to 14 majority. That certainty ended last month when Sen. Kelly Townsend announced she will not vote for any election-related legislation until the Senate’s audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 General Election is complete.
Townsend has expressed displeasure with Ugenti-Rita’s lack of support for getting many of Townsend’s 18 election bills out of committee this session. As a result, Ugenti-Rita was forced into the embarrassing position of voting against her own bill to preserve any chance of revoting on SB1485 during a future Senate floor session.
That revote was set for Monday, but Senate President Karen Fann held the bill without further comment. The Senate is tentatively scheduled for daily floor sessions through Thursday but as of press time the PEVL legislation has not been added to any of those calendars.
On Monday, the Arizona House passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 1044. The resolution allows voters to decide if students who are in the country illegally but have attended for two years and graduated from an Arizona high school can be eligible for in-state college tuition.
SCR 1044 also exempts post-secondary education from the definition of a state or public benefit. Currently, Arizona residents who do not have legal immigration status do not qualify to receive those benefits.
Last week, Republican State Reps. Michelle Udall and Joel John forced a vote on the resolution by joining all House Democrats. Republicans Rep. David Cook and Rep. Joanne Osborne joined the group later and voted in favor of the matter. The move shifted power away from the Republican Caucus momentarily, but left a deep division.
Speaker Rusty Bowers expressed his disappointment in the tactic employed by Udall and John before casting his vote against the measure:
The measure will now go before the Arizona voters on a ballot in 2022.
The ballot initiative would repeal a 15-year-old ban on in-state tuition for undocumented high school graduates, including about 2,000 Dreamers per year. Voters created that ban in 2006 when they approved Proposition 300, which denies public benefits to those not in the country legally, including reduced cost tuition.
On Monday, Governor Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2596, legislation aimed at expanding broadband access in Arizona. The bill allows private broadband providers to install, operate and maintain telecommunications equipment within the Arizona Department of Transportation’s (ADOT) rights-of-way.
“Arizona is growing and people are moving here at a record pace — and we need to ensure all parts of our booming state are connected,” said Governor Ducey. “In my January State of the State address, I called to continue expanding access to broadband. House Bill 2596 does that, and it will help Arizonans living in rural and tribal areas gain access to fast, affordable and reliable internet. My thanks goes to Representative Regina Cobb for sponsoring legislation that benefits people in every corner of our growing state.”
House Bill 2596 also allows ADOT to grant access to its own broadband conduit to private telecommunications companies in a non-exclusive and non-discriminatory manner — reducing the cost of installing rural broadband infrastructure
Additionally, the legislation creates the “Smart Highway Trust Fund” to deposit leasing revenues generated from the use of ADOT rights-of-way, which are to be used for operation and maintenance of telecommunications facilities within ADOT’s rights-of-way.
