If all else fails, run and hide. That seems to be the motto for Katie Hobbs anytime she’s confronted with a challenge. We saw it during her 2022 gubernatorial campaign when she refused to debate Kari Lake. We saw it when she ducked reporters asking for her reasoning behind refusing to debate Kari Lake. We saw it when she hid in a restaurant bathroom after another reporter asked her why she didn’t like discussing politics. And now that she’s governor, it should come as no surprise that Hobbs has chosen the same approach when it comes to the border crisis.
During the last three years, the Biden administration has completely abandoned its constitutional duty to protect each state from invasion, and Texas had enough. The state moved to defend itself from an unprecedented flow of illegal immigration due to the federal government’s negligence. And it has so far been supported by governors from 25 states who signed a joint statement standing with Texas.
Given Arizona’s dangerous situation at our own border, you would think Governor Hobbs would sign on or at least have something to say. But once again, she has chosen to run and hide…
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 legislative Republicans are again standing with state attorneys general over an issue of national importance.
This week, both the Arizona State House and Senate Republican Caucuses announced that Speaker Ben Toma and President Warren Petersen had joined a letter to President Joe Biden, “urging (the administration) to either enforce our immigration laws and protect our southern border or get out of the way so Texas can.”
🚨 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Arizona Senate Republicans Stand in Solidarity with Texas' Efforts to Defend Itself Against Biden's Border Invasion@votewarren@ShawnnaLMBolick@AZSenatorShamp ⬇️⬇️⬇️
The letter to the White House follows an escalating disagreement between Texas state officials and the Biden Administration over enforcement of laws and allocation of resources pertaining to illegal immigration into that state. Both sides are looking to the Supreme Court of the United States to adjudicate this politically volatile dispute.
“Arizona is overwhelmed from the same dangers brought on by this invasion as Texas. Biden is literally dismantling our nation as we know it, allowing known terrorists and criminals to enter through our southern border with no consequences,” said President Petersen. “Since our Attorney General is not pushing back against the lawlessness Biden is promoting by working to destroy the border barriers Governor Abbott has built, the Legislature must speak out and stand in solidarity to support our neighbors.”
“Texas has every right to defend itself from the unprecedented flow of illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and countless threats at our southern border because of President Biden’s willful refusal to protect this nation,” said Speaker Ben Toma. “I stand with Governor Abbott and call on Governor Hobbs to follow his lead and invoke Arizona’s constitutional right to defend itself.”
“Texas has every right to defend itself from the unprecedented flow of illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and countless threats at our southern… pic.twitter.com/NP13xTfWzg
The letter that Petersen and Toma co-signed was led by the States of Iowa and Utah and joined by Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
In their letter, the attorneys general and legislators write, “The federal government should be working to stop this crisis, but it is not. And the Constitution’s Guarantee Clause requires that the federal government do so. It must ‘protect each [State] against invasion.’ But it has abandoned its duty. Nothing in the Constitution stops Texas from stepping up and doing its part to protect itself, and in so doing also protecting States across the country. To those that contend this power belongs only in Congress, they should take that up with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who stands with Texas. By following the Constitution, Texas is doing what the federal government has failed to do.”
Over the past few months, the two Republican legislative leaders have signaled a more aggressive shift in taking the reins from Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to defend the law and Constitution. Attorneys general are not usually joined by outside parties on their amicus briefs or letters, yet multiple coalitions of Republican state prosecutors have included Petersen and Toma on several major filings. In previews for the 2024 legislative session, both the House and Senate Majority Caucuses indicated more of these efforts are to be expected throughout this year.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
House Democrats believe that Americans who think the border is mismanaged are “confused.”
Democrats in the House Homeland Security Committee issued the remarks during a press conference on Monday addressing the newly-released articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas. Committee Republicans published the draft articles on Sunday.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS-02), ranking member, indicated that DHS was handling the border correctly and operating in line with the direction of President Joe Biden. Thompson noted that the greater concern for he and his Democratic colleagues was that the impeachment efforts were the cause of lost confidence in DHS and Mayorkas.
“Democrats are real concerned that this is just one of those efforts to confuse the public that something is going wrong at the Department of Homeland Security. Our secretary works at the direction of the president,” said Thompson. “This notion that in carrying out the directions of your boss somehow is an impeachable offense is wrong.”
House Democrats say the public is merely confused if they believe there's something wrong with the border under @DHSgov. They also say @SecMayorkas shouldn't be impeached because he's just following orders from @POTUS. pic.twitter.com/c5P9mw7kxs
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-08) also spoke at the press conference. Jeffries claimed that it was “extreme MAGA Republicans” who were misleading the American public on the state of the border. Jeffries further claimed that House Republicans produced “no evidence” that Mayorkas committed an impeachable or unconstitutional offense.
“The extreme MAGA republicans have been directed by Donald Trump not to work together to address the challenges at the border and to instead distract the American people,” said Jeffries.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY-10), another committee member, argued that Republicans caused the border crisis. Goldman claimed that the Biden administration implemented policies to streamline the asylum process, reduce the immigration case backlog, and a cessation of illegal immigration between ports of entry.
“The Republicans are literally trying to stop the administration from securing the border, while they are saying, and so they can say, that the administration is not securing the border,” said Goldman. “They are creating this situation and then they want to blame President Biden.”
Under the first few weeks of his administration, the country experienced an unprecedented deluge of illegal immigration after Biden reversed most of the border policies from his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.
As reported extensively throughout investigations published by the Homeland Security Committee and border agents on the ground, illegal immigrants and cartels have become increasingly emboldened to violate border and trafficking laws. Last week, smugglers assaulted a Border Patrol agent arresting several illegal immigrants.
Since Biden took office, there have been over 7.15 million illegal immigrant encounters at the southern border, and an unknown number of gotaways estimated in total to be around several million.
In the 2023 fiscal year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) arrested over 35,400 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions nationwide, of whom nearly 600 were known gang members. Since the 2021 fiscal year, agents have arrested nearly 300 illegal immigrants on the terrorist watchlist.
The House Homeland Security Committee is scheduled to consider the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas on Tuesday at 8 am. The hearing will be streamed here.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Arizona Senate Republicans have a plan to mitigate the effects of the crisis at the southern border.
On Wednesday, Senate Republicans held a press conference to announce their proposals to “provide law enforcement the support they need to defend our citizens against these threats.”
One of the bills Republicans will seek to pass through the legislature, the Arizona Border Invasion Act, is sponsored by Senator Janae Shamp. According to the Senate Republicans’ news release, this legislation would grant local, county, or state law enforcement officers the statutory authority to make arrests of three categories of individuals:
any non-US citizens who enter [Arizona] from anywhere but a lawful entrance point
any non-US citizens who have been denied entry, or have already been removed from [the United States]
any non-US citizens who have been ordered to leave because of one of the above crimes but are refusing to comply with the order.
The other bill highlighted by Republicans was Senator David Gowan’s Aggravated Unlawful Flight Act, which would “create tougher penalties for drivers who endanger the life of another person while attempting to flee law enforcement, prompting a high-speed chase.” Additionally, Senator Gowan’s bill would “create greater penalties against drivers who cause harm to another person during a high-speed chase, or those who are transporting a child under the age of 15.”
“Joe Biden and his administration have made it unequivocally clear that they have abandoned their duties to enforce immigration policy at the federal level,” said Senator Shamp. “As a result, our communities and our citizens are suffering the dire consequences of the lawlessness associated with tens of thousands of people, many of whom are criminals, illegally entering our state each month with no repercussions. It is our duty as state legislators to ensure the safety of our citizens and our law enforcement, which is why I’m calling on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this commonsense legislation.”
“This is the worst border crisis in U.S. history. Our local sheriffs are overwhelmed, outnumbered, and their lives are in danger,” said Senator Gowan. “Our communities are suffering from the deadly fentanyl, rapes, murders, high-speed chases, kidnappings, human smuggling, child sex trafficking, and other heinous crimes carried out by those who are entering our state illegally. We can’t just sit idly by and watch Biden’s border invasion destroy Arizona. I’m urging members of the Legislature to pass our bills and for the Governor to sign them. Lives are on the line, and the hands of our local law enforcement are currently tied.”
Both Republicans and Democrats realize the importance of dealing with the historic crisis at the border, though members of both parties generally have vastly different opinions about the solutions. At the start of this new legislative session, the border was a central theme in Governor Katie Hobbs’ State of the State address. Hobbs asserted that she “delivered on multiple fronts to help mitigate the crisis, including the launch of Operation SECURE and the creation of a Border Coordination Office within the Arizona Department of Homeland Security.
Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma immediately released a video in the aftermath of the governor’s address, responding to the issues she raised to onlooking legislators. Toma argued that despite Hobbs’ attempt to make Arizonans “believe she’s all about securing our border and ending the lawlessness caused by Joe Biden’s immigration system…her record is one of open borders…and she’s continued that approach as governor.” Petersen talked about “major mistakes” from Hobbs by vetoing three bills in particular “that would have kept families safe from drugs and crime.”
During 2023, the first year of a rare, divided government in the Grand Canyon State, legislative Republicans consistently pointed out that the reality with the border crisis could have been more daunting for Arizonans if not for their check on Democrats. When Hobbs signed the state budget compromise in May, Petersen noted his members “prevented the Governor and Democrat Legislators from advancing their extremist agenda,” and promised “we’re not getting rid of state-funded border security resources to keep our communities safe.” Despite Hobbs’ efforts to be perceived as taking the border crisis seriously in the new year, she is unlikely to work with legislative Republicans on much – if any – fixes to help mitigate the lawlessness and consequences for affected communities, likely spelling doom for the two recently introduced border bills should the legislature send the proposals to the Governor’s Office.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
