On Tuesday, Arizona finished the border wall gaps in Yuma. The state began closing the wall 11 days ago, on Friday, August 13.
Governor Doug Ducey celebrated the state’s rapid securement of the border the following day, the conclusion of an executive order which he dubbed the “Border Barrier Mission.”
“We did it,” wrote Ducey. “Yuma is safer today.”
🔹11 days 🔹5 gaps 🔹130 shipping containers 🔹3,820 linear feet 🔹48 workers
In a press release, Ducey declared that his action didn’t mean the federal government was off the hook for border security. Ducey insinuated that Arizona’s quick action proved that the Biden administration didn’t really want the border closed.
“In just 11 days, Arizona did the job the federal government has failed to do — and we showed them just how quickly and efficiently the border can be made more secure – if you want to,” declared Ducey.
The state closed five gaps amounting to over 3,800 feet in the border wall. Securing the wall took 130 shipping containers and 48 workers, coming in at a cost of over $6 million. By comparison, the Biden administration spent an estimated $3 million every day — around $2 billion total — to not complete the border wall, per President Joe Biden’s proclamation.
Gov. @DougDucey announced today 3,820 feet of previously open border near Yuma, Arizona is now closed with a barrier of double-stacked and secured shipping containers. https://t.co/fzQFE0coQm
The governor’s office secured the funding through border security legislation passed in the most recent legislative session: HB2317 from State Representative John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) codified June 30.
Ducey relayed that the Biden administration promised Arizona last December that it would close the Yuma border wall gaps. No construction has taken place. Ducey noted that Yuma communities and their resources, such as nonprofits, food banks, and shelters, were overburdened by the illegal immigrant crisis. The area’s agriculture, the lifeblood of their economy, also suffered due to the travel of illegal immigrants.
In the press release, Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls expressed gratitude for Ducey’s action.
“Every day hundreds of people come across the border into the Yuma area,” said Nicholls. “By closing the border wall gaps, Governor Ducey is helping to protect our city from the dangerous drugs and bad actors that come through on a daily basis. Yuma is grateful for the effective process of getting these containers in place quickly and secured. Governor Ducey showed the nation how to secure the border and keep illegal activity at the border at bay.”
Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines also commended Ducey and excoriated the Biden administration for its inaction.
“The open border left behind by the Biden administration has left Yuma County residents exhausted and our resources depleted,” said Lines. “We’re tired of the lethal drugs and human smuggling entering our county. These containers are making a huge difference and will disrupt the cartels’ trafficking operations. Thank you, Governor Ducey, for prioritizing our county and protecting our families.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
On Wednesday, the Arizona Supreme Court invalidated signatures of a ballot initiative seeking to overhaul the state’s election processes, making it unlikely to appear on the November ballot.
Chief Justice Robert Brutinel ruled that Arizonans For Free and Fair Elections, or the Arizona Democracy Resource Center (ADRC) Action, failed to provide a valid mailing address to receive certified mail. Brutinel remanded the case back to the Maricopa County Superior Court to determine how many signatures his order impacts.
Based on the ruling — likely to invalidate tens of thousands of signatures — and sampling rejection rates, it appears unlikely that the initiative will have enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. ADRC Action submitted over 475,000 signatures, and needs just over 237,600 to qualify.
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) challenged the ballot initiative. In a statement to AZ Free News, AFEC President and Executive Director Scot Mussi asserted that the legal victory protected Arizonans from the harms of outside special interests.
“We are very pleased that the Supreme Court affirmed the lower court ruling that Arizonans for Free and Fair Elections failed to gather enough lawful signatures to qualify for the ballot,” said Mussi. “This radical initiative imported 60 different provisions from Washington, D.C. that would have increased fraud, harmed small business, and empowered special interests. They spent over $7 million trying to buy their way onto the ballot, and they failed.”
Breaking News, @azfec WON our lawsuit! The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the lower court ruling that Free and Fair DID NOT gather enough lawful signatures to qualify their radical election initiative for the November ballot!
The Maricopa County Superior Court’s original ruling reduced valid signatures to about 10,000 short of qualifying for the ballot, which AFEC likened to being “on life support.”
🚨 Big news! The "Arizonans for Free and Fair Elections" ballot initiative is officially on life support after a judge disqualified tens of thousands of signatures, leaving it ~10k short of the ~238k needed to make the ballot. 🙌 https://t.co/JgfesNDZwo
Below are some of Arizonans for Free and Fair Elections’ proposed changes:
eliminate voter ID and proof of citizenship for voter registration
allow same-day voter registration
bar election audits like the most recent one for the 2020 election
raise small business taxes to increase political campaign funding
restore private funding in election administration
require universal vote centers
extend in-person early voting through the day before Election Day
require a court order to rule someone too incapacitated to vote
implement automatic voter registration for driver’s license and state ID recipients, as well as of-age high schoolers
allow curbside voting
allow “nontraditional residential addresses” such as mile markers or “geographic or other identifying features” when registering to vote
restore the permanent early voting list (PEVL)
restore “inactive” voters to “active” status
permit “signature-only” voter registration
allow third parties to register voters
reduce contribution limits
As reported previously, ADRC Action accrued over $7.6 million from a national network of Democratic dark money for this ballot initiative. Their group traces back to a national donor network called “Way to Win,” launched for the purpose of defeating Republicans in response to former President Donald Trump’s 2016 victory.
Way to Win asserted that its $110 million in funding to key states, including Arizona and Georgia, were the reason for the Democrats’ blue wave in 2020. Way to Win’s major sources of funding include George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and family, Stryker Corporation heiress Patricia Stryker, the prominent D.C. consulting firm Arabella Advisors’ Sixteen Thirty (1630) Fund, and the Tides Foundation-backed One Arizona.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and 10 media companies and nonprofits sued the state over its new ban on recording police within 8 feet. The groups argued in their lawsuit that the ban violates the constitutional rights to free speech and a free press.
The law, HB2319, requires observers to obtain an officer’s permission in order to film within that distance while officers are questioning, arresting, or handling disruptive or otherwise abnormal behavior. If not, the filmer may be charged with a misdemeanor.
However, individuals personally approached or stopped by police may record within 8 feet — so long as they’re not being searched, arrested, or tested for sobriety — as well as bystanders in an enclosed structure of private property where the law enforcement activity is taking place, so long as officers don’t ask the bystander to leave.
The organizations filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Arizona. Those named in the suit were Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, and Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone. A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office told AP News on Tuesday afternoon that they hadn’t received the complaint, and therefore couldn’t comment.
BREAKING: We’re suing Arizona over a law that makes it a crime to record police officers if you’re within 8 feet of them.
We have a First Amendment right to record police in public. Full stop.
Media companies joining the ACLU in the lawsuit are: Phoenix Newspapers (Arizona Republic); Gray Media Group (AZFamily and KOLD); Scripps Media (ABC15 Arizona, CW61 Arizona, KGUN9, CW Tucson); KPNX-TV (12News); Fox Television Stations (Fox 10 Phoenix, Tucson News Now, Your TV Family); NBCUniversal Media (NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo Arizona); Arizona Broadcasters Association; States Newsroom (Arizona Mirror); Arizona Newspapers Association (represents 84 newspapers); and the National Press Photographers Association.
BREAKING: ACLU, Arizona media organizations (including @abc15) just filed a lawsuit to challenge Arizona’s new law banning people from videotaping police activity within 8 feet of the officers. It’s a First Amendment complaint.
The plaintiffs recounted in the lawsuit how their lobbying efforts to defeat HB2319 failed in the past legislative session.
Several news organizations, including The Arizona Republic, are joining the ACLU of Arizona to challenge a new state law banning close-range recordings of Arizona police. https://t.co/31Er0LiNFD
The lawmaker who came up with HB2319 was State Representative John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills), a former New York Police Department (NYPD) officer. In a March opinion piece defending the ban, Kavanagh explained that individuals filming within 8 feet of an officer posed a potential danger to active investigations and arrests.
“Police officers have no way of knowing whether the person approaching is an innocent bystander or an accomplice of the person they’re arresting who might assault them,” wrote Kavanagh. “Consequently, officers become distracted and while turning away from the subject of the encounter, the officers could be assaulted by that subject or that subject could discard evidence or even escape.”
Kavanagh introduced the bill in response to requests from Tucson police officers who experienced bystanders videotaping as close as one foot behind them, even during arrests.
Governor Doug Ducey signed Kavanagh’s bill into law last month. The ban goes into effect on September 24.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Republican Accountability Project (RAP) is using $2 million from Democrat billionaires to take down Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
RAP is relying on funds raised through their new political action committee (PAC), the Republican Accountability PAC, established in February. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) campaign finance reports, the PAC has well over $5.1 million in funding from just 21 donors. Only 8 gave donations of $1,000 or less.
The majority of the PAC’s funds came from the following billionaires bankrolling the Democratic Party, none of which are from Arizona:
$1 million, Kathryn Murdoch: daughter-in-law of News Corporation co-founder and Fox Corporation owner Rupert Murdoch. Co-founder and president of Quadrivium Foundation, which endorsed and heavily funded the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and recently committed $250 million to BlackRock for “green energy infrastructure.” Former strategy and communications director for the Clinton Foundation (2007-2011). Member of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) board of trustees.
$1 million, Sue Mandel: wife to hedge fund billionaire Stephen Mandel. Director of the ZOOM Foundation, a social justice activism organization. Co-founder of Moms Clean Air Force, which fights climate change and air pollution. Member of Harvard Business School’s Board of Dean’s Advisors. Member of EDF board of trustees.
$1 million, John Pritzker: member of Pritzker dynasty, son of Jay Pritzker and related to Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. Finances left-leaning causes through his foundation. Issued a $25 million grant to an environmental justice project. His relative, Rachel Pritzker Duarte, also gave $100,000.
$500,000, Seth Klarman: founder and chief executive of the Baupost Group, a private investment partnership. Donates heavily through his Klarman Family Foundation, which has backed George Soros’ organizations, the NAACP, the Brennan Center for Justice, the National Center for Transgender Equality, and the ADL.
$500,000, Sam Rawlings Walton: grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Former EDF board of trustees member.
$500,000, Gordon Gund: heir to Ohio’s Gund dynasty. Affiliated with the George Gund Foundation, which funds social justice initiatives across the board, including climate justice, abortion, transgenderism, and racial equity.
$200,000, Jeff and Erica Lawson: co-founder and CEO of Twilio, a cloud communications services firm. Major financier of a dark money favorite for Silicon Valley liberals, Future Forward (FF) PAC, initially funded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.
Republican Accountability PAC has just launched a new $2 million campaign targeting the MAGA extremists running for office in Arizona.
Kari Lake is the first candidate being targeted. The campaign will feature real Republicans voters like Tom and Sue who refuse to support Lake. pic.twitter.com/2XFsTLKMec
— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) August 16, 2022
RAP is an initiative of the Democratic, “Never Trump” dark money group, Defending Democracy Together (DDT). DDT was one of the top-spending dark money groups in the 2020 election, spending over $15 million to either oppose former President Donald Trump or support President Joe Biden.
One of the RAP promotional videos announcing their PAC campaign features a “Republican voter” and “Arizona conservative” named Tom, who AZ Free News discovered is actually registered Democrat Tom Rawles. The timing of Rawles’ feature is noteworthy, considering that his wife, Linda Rawles, penned an Arizona Republic opinion piece shared far and wide by Democrats and self-described Republicans like Bill Kristol earlier this week.
"I’m a lifelong Republican, but I can’t even recognize the state GOP…Instead of nominating distinguished leaders, the party has elevated unhinged and anti-democratic candidates. It pains me to say this of my own party: The Arizona GOP is beyond repair." https://t.co/9GCtpsGlVM
Rawles served on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (BOS) from 1993 to 1996, then on the Mesa City Council from 2004 to 2008. As a councilman in early 2007, he gained notoriety nationwide for remaining seated and silent during the Pledge of Allegiance at a council meeting, in protest of the Iraq War. In 2012, Rawles failed in a run for District 1 of the Arizona State Senate.
Rawles’ wife, Linda, also has a political history. Linda launched multiple, unsuccessful campaigns in the 1980s in Indiana before coming to Arizona. Then she ran and lost as a Republican for an Arizona congressional seat in 1994.
The Republican Accountability PAC treasurer Sarah Longwell is an avowed “Never Trumper” who claims to be a Republican. Longwell was the first female national board chair for the Log Cabin Republicans (LCR), an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ acceptance within the GOP and criticized for promulgating a “big tent” GOP and being “Republicans In Name Only,” or “RINOs.”
"Inclusion wins, which makes the Texas Republican Party leadership’s decision to exclude the Texas Log Cabin Republicans from their convention not just narrow-minded, but politically short-sighted." pic.twitter.com/vp1UAZJZtn
— Log Cabin Republicans (@LogCabinGOP) June 17, 2022
Longwell resigned from LCR’s board after the organization endorsed Trump’s re-election. She became the publisher of a neoconservative news and commentary site, The Bulwark, with the support of Bill Kristol and Charlie Sykes.
RAP received the endorsement of Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Supervisor Bill Gates. The pair appeared in a RAP promotional video last September. At the time, Richer told AZ Free News that he appeared in the RAP video because January 6 reminded him of the French Revolution, and he felt it was important to support DDT.
Richer added that his support would make great minds like Edmund Burke, a predecessor to modern conservatism, as well as law and order supporters, proud.
Neither Richer or Gates received compensation for their video appearance.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) is requesting information on the Biden administration’s practice of flying illegal immigrants without proper identification around the country. Biggs leads a coalition of 24 Republicans in seeking answers, which includes Congressmen Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) and Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08).
In a press release, Biggs accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of using taxpayer dollars to help illegal immigrants reach their desired destinations, further incentivizing illegal crossings. Biggs argued further that the ID standard for illegal immigrants compromises post-9/11 security measures.
“Transporting potentially tens of thousands of lawbreakers throughout the country — with virtually unknown backgrounds — is a national security risk and defies the recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission,” stated Biggs.
In the letter, the coalition noted that about 45,000 illegal immigrants flew without proper ID from last January to October.
According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), illegal immigrants may use papers related to their immigration processing such as the notice to appear (DHS Form I-862), warrants for arrest of alien (ICE Form I-200) and removal/deportation (ICE Form I-220A), order of supervision (ICE Form I-220B), arrival and departure form (CBP Form I-94), and alien booking record (DHS Form I-385).
Unlike illegal immigrants, American citizens must present a form of government-issued photo ID; alternative IDs like weapon permits and temporary driver’s licenses aren’t acceptable forms of ID.
I'm demanding answers from @DHSgov regarding the department allowing illegal aliens to fly on commercial airplanes—at taxpayers’ expense—without presenting acceptable identification.@SecMayorkas must immediately cease this operation. https://t.co/VMkx8r2PMG
TSA Administrator David Pekoske claimed in his Senate confirmation hearing last month that less than 1,000 illegal immigrants flew without proper ID this calendar year. Biggs’ coalition challenged that claim as “extremely low” since DHS has released nearly 500,000 illegal immigrants into the country this year.
Pekoske asserted during last month’s hearing that the immigration papers in question offered similar security to traditional forms of ID because they were issued by Border Patrol or a customs officer, and that TSA validated the papers using an alien identification number reflected in Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) databases.
“We aren’t looking at whether a person is legal or illegal in the country,” said Pekoske. “Our role is to make sure that people who may pose a risk to transportation that is significant enough to require enhanced screening or to not allow them to fly.”
The latest CBP reporting shows about 3.5 million illegal immigrant encounters along the southern border since President Joe Biden took office.
The head of TSA admits the Biden Administration has let nearly 1000 illegal aliens use arrest warrants as ID to get on planes this year. Think about that while you wait in line at the airport pic.twitter.com/rNIiGa8yBu
The TSA hasn’t been consistently forthright about its allowance of illegal immigrants flying without government-issued photo ID.
In 2014, TSA confirmed that they began accepting notices to appear as acceptable travel ID.
Then in 2017, TSA informed the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) that they did allow notices to appear.
Yet in 2019, TSA publicly denied that they allowed illegal immigrants to present immigrant processing papers.
1: Reports stating that illegal aliens may fly without Government-issued photo ID and may instead present their “Notice to Appear” paperwork are false. A “Notice to Appear,” issued by the Executive Office for Immigration Review isn't an acceptable form of ID at the checkpoint.
In January, Congressmen Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY-11) and Rodney Davis (R-IL-13) introduced legislation to prohibit the TSA from allowing illegal immigrants to board planes with alternative forms of ID.
Other congressmen in Biggs’ coalition include Mo Brooks (R-AL-05), Lauren Boebert (R-CO-03), Ken Buck (R-CO-04), Bill Posey (R-FL-08), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14), Jody Hice (R-GA-10), Mary Miller (R-IL-15), Ron Estes (R-KS-04), Andy Harris (R-MD-01), Tom McClintock (R-MN-04), Dan Bishop (R-NC-09), Scott Perry (R-PA-10), Jeff Duncan (R-SC-03), Ralph Norman (R-SC-05), Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01), Michael Cloud (R-TX-27), Louie Gohmert (R-TX-01), Chip Roy (R-TX-21), Ben Cline (R-VA-06), Bob Good (R-VA-05), and Glenn Grothman (R-WI-06).
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM)’s Lower Sonoran Field Office is once again seeking public comment where recreational target shooting should be allowed within the 486,400-acre Sonoran Desert National Monument, if it is allowed at all.
Tuesday’s notice of the call for public input begins a 30-day scoping period prompted by a court settlement earlier this year. The comments will be used to identify areas where recreational target shooting might continue to be offered. There will also need to be an environmental assessment.
“While we have preliminary alternatives for the environmental assessment, we expect that public scoping will generate more alternatives for us to consider,” said BLM’s Phoenix District Manager Leon Thomas. “This scoping period is an opportunity for the public to help guide land use decisions at the Sonoran Desert National Monument.”
Established in 2001, the Sonoran Desert National Monument is located on public lands in Maricopa and Pinal counties. About 435,700 of its acres are currently available for recreational target shooting.
In 2015, a federal judge ordered BLM to reanalyze the impacts of recreational target shooting on the SDNM. The led in August 2018 to the issuance of Record of Decision / Resource Management Plan amendment based on extensive public input and an updated environmental analysis to maintain access for target shooters throughout 90 percent of the SDNM while ensuring public safety and resource protection.
Much of the restrictions are centered on the Juan Batista de Anza recreation management zone, the most heavily area of SDNM.
However, a legal challenge to that decision was filed in 2019, leading to a settlement in April which requires a new round of planning.
There are also plans for BLM to conduct virtual public meetings. Those dates have not yet been announced.
The Sonoran Desert National Monument contains three distinct mountain ranges – the Maricopa, Sand Tank and Table Top Mountains – as well as the Booth and White Hills, all separated by wide valleys. The monument also contains three Congressionally designated wilderness areas and many significant archaeological and historic sites, and remnants of several important historic trails.
