A bill increasing the penalty for convicted smugglers passed the U.S. House of Representatives with bipartisan support on Tuesday.
The Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act is named in honor of a Border Patrol agent from the Rio Grande Valley who died in a Dec. 2022 ATV crash while tracking a group of illegal border crossers near Mission.
“This sends a signal to bad actors in #AZ06 and across our border communities that we’ll pursue actions that threaten American lives to the fullest extent of our law,” said Representative Juan Ciscomani, the Republican who sponsored the bill.
Thrilled to have my bill — the Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act — PASS the House with bipartisan support!
This sends a signal to bad actors in #AZ06 and across our border communities that we'll pursue actions that threaten American lives to the fullest extent of our law. pic.twitter.com/1Eupgma5C9
The legislation makes failure to yield a felony, and smugglers could face a life sentence if an officer is killed during the apprehension.
Agent Raul Humberto Gonzalez, Jr. was traveling at high speed on Dec. 7 when he crashed. Gonzalez died in the hospital from injuries sustained in the crash.
Gonzalez previously served with the United States Department of Homeland Security – Customs and Border Protection – United States Border Patrol for more than ten years. He was assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Sector McAllen Station.
Mayra Flores, R-Ariz., tweeted a tribute to the 38-year-old father of two.
“My condolences to the family & friends of Border Patrol Agent Raul Gonzalez,” she said. “He was tragically killed in an ATV accident while protecting our borders. Many knew him as a great father & as a go getter at work. We are forever grateful for his service and sacrifice.”
My condolences to the family & friends of Border Patrol Agent Raul Gonzalez. He was tragically killed in an ATV accident while protecting our borders. Many knew him as a great father & as a go getter at work. We are forever grateful for his service and sacrifice. #USBP#RGV#RIPpic.twitter.com/euSgBKkbqL
Arizona Women of Action are urging the state legislature to pass a bill preventing children from accessing pornography.
“This non partisan bill needs SUPPORT,” the activist group said on Twitter. “It would effectively protect AZ kids from accessing pornography. Age verification is a must!”
🚨 Use Your Voice to PROTECT ARIZONA KIDS 🚨
This non partisan bill needs SUPPORT. It would effectively protect AZ kids from accessing pornography. Age verification is a must!
Sponsored by Republican state representatives Tim Dunn and Ben Toma, House Bill 2586 adds a new section to a statute regulating the “publishing and distribution of material harmful to minors on the internet.”
The bill subjects commercial entities to civil liabilities for damages if they knowingly publish or distribute material harmful to minors on the internet on a website without age verification.
The legislation “Specifies that a commercial entity that fails to perform the age verification method described above is liable to an individual for the damages that result from a minor accessing the material harmful to minors, including court costs and reasonable attorney fees.”
If the bill passes, Arizona would be the tenth U.S. state to pass legislation requiring some form of age-verification for access to certain materials on the internet.
The other nine states include Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
The Protect Arizona Children Coalition also voiced its support for the bill.
“We can’t believe this needs to be said…Pornography isn’t for kids,” the PACC tweeted, asking citizens to voice their support for the bill at its hearing on Jan. 31.
We can’t believe this needs to be said…
Pornography isn’t for kids.
Please voice your support for this common sense bill, HB 2586-Harmful Website Content Age Verification, drafted by Rep Tim Dunn on RTS being heard Wednesday, Jan 31st at 9 am.
Former Arizona state Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita called on Rep. Jake Hoffman, founding chairman ofthe Arizona Freedom Caucus, to amend a bill involving sexually explicit materials in schools to include the Maricopa County Library District.
Senate Bill 1007 proposed by Hoffman, a Republican, makes it a class 5 felony for a public school to show a student sexually explicit materials or use it in the classroom in any way.
“I would like to encourage the bill sponsor, @JakeHoffmanAZ and my former colleagues to amend this bill to include the Maricopa County Library District since @ThomasGalvin won’t do anything to stop county libraries from facilitating a liberal woke agenda by promoting sexually graphic and sensitive material to children,” said Ugenti-Rita, a Republican who represented Arizona’s District 23 from 2019 to 2023.
The bill prohibits Arizona public schools to refer students to sexually explicit material unless “the material possesses serious educational value for minors or serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value” or “the public school requires written parental consent, on a per-material basis, before referring a student to or using the material.”
The public school must also provide students whose parents do not consent for them to see the material with an alternative assignment that does not contain sexually explicit material.
Sexually explicit materials include “textual, visual or audio materials or materials accessed via any other medium that depict sexual conduct, sexual excitement or ultimate sexual acts,” the bill says.
Charter schools can require parents to waive the right to object to learning materials or activities as a condition of enrollment if the charter school provides a comprehensive list of books and materials used for instruction each school year before the student enrolls.
The parent keeps the right to object to those materials if they are altered after the students’ enrollment.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
Former Arizona State Sen. Kirsten Engel received campaign funding from a liberal dark money group “fellowship,” the Washington Examiner uncovered.
Engel lists the American Mainstream Policy Leadership Institute, or AMPLI, fellowship on her University of Arizona profile page, but she did not respond to questions about why she didn’t disclose any payments from the group.
“What is Kirsten Engel hiding? Engel’s intimate involvement with these secretive left-wing forces orchestrating this unprecedented corrupt scheme is disturbing and Arizonans deserve answers immediately,” National Republican Congressional Committee Spokesperson Ben Petersen said in a statement.
Engel unsuccessfully ran for Congress in Arizona in 2022 against Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani. She is running to unseat Ciscomani in 2024 in a district Cook Political Report calls a “Republican toss up.”
Engel’s financial disclosure report filed with the House clerk in August of last year did not disclose any income from the fellowship.
New Politics Leadership Academy, a charity that trains prospective candidates and has an affiliated advocacy group called New Politics 527 previously sponsored the AMPLI fellowship. New Politics also ran a similar one in 2019 which cut large checks to failed candidates, drawing legal scrutiny from campaign experts.
New Politics Leadership Academy has since moved on from the initiative, which was absorbed by Our American Future Foundation, or OAFF, a newly-formed charity incorporated in Washington, D.C., by an associate of Democratic superlawyer Marc Elias, according to documents obtained by the Washington Examiner.
New Politics Leadership Academy’s partnership with AMPLI only lasted for one month, New Politics spokesman Gabe Ramos told the Washington Examiner. Ramos indicated tension between the two groups.
“The fellowship was never our thing,” Ramos said in an interview with the Washington Examiner, describing how New Politics Leadership Academy ran a one-time 2019 fellowship, though, in October 2022, began sponsoring a project called the American Mainstream Policy Leadership Institute that offers a revamped version.
Our American Future Foundation’s involvement with the fellowship could have legal implications due to the legal scrutiny New Politics Leadership Academy faced in recent years over pushing thousands of dollars to candidates, the Examiner reported.
Tax experts have questioned whether New Politics Leadership Academy may have violated its charity status by compensating congressional hopefuls. The Federal Election Commission received at least one formal complaint against a candidate in 2020 regarding the candidate being “paid to run for Congress by Democratic groups,” including New Politics Leadership Academy.
New Politics has claimed it’s bipartisan, though the vast majority of the candidates it has supported have been Democrats, the Washington Examiner reported.
Little information is available online about AMPLI or OAFF.
Ramos, the New Politics spokesman, agreed it’s odd there is such little information on the internet about both AMPLI and OAFF.
“By design I suspect,” he told the Washington Examiner.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
Human smugglers assaulted a Border Patrol agent with rocks while he was arresting several illegal immigrants near San Luis, Arizona, earlier this week, Border Patrol reported. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., called out the “lawlessness” of the incident.
“This lawlessness must come to an immediate halt,” Biggs said on Twitter.
Wishing this agent a speedy recovery.
Many folks streaming across our border right now are armed and dangerous.
Chief Patrol Agent Sean McGoffin said human smugglers threw rocks at the Border Patrol Agent hitting him in the head early Tuesday morning, leading to lacerations across the eye. An investigation is underway to bring those responsible to justice, according to Border Patrol.
“Wishing this agent a speedy recovery,” Biggs continued. “Many folks streaming across our border right now are armed and dangerous.”
McGoffin of the Yuma Sector Border Patrol said individuals were making an illegal entry into the area of the assault and the smugglers who were on the Mexican side of the border began throwing rocks.
The agent was taken to the hospital and is now on the road to recovery, according to McGoffin.
“The agent is doing okay,” McGoffin said. “We’re thankful for him being okay, but he did have to go and receive medical treatment. He’s currently not back to work yet, but we anticipate he will be in the near future, we’re just so thankful that he’s safe.”
McGoffin said that though overall assaults have been down over the previous year, every assault is serious and could be fatal.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
