Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has vetoed a Republican-sponsored immigration enforcement bill, drawing sharp criticism from Senator John Kavanagh and other GOP lawmakers who say the legislation was a necessary step toward protecting public safety.
SB 1610, introduced by Kavanagh, would have required county detention facilities to cooperate with federal immigration authorities by providing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with access to information about non-citizen individuals arrested for certain serious crimes, including aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, burglary, and offenses resulting in serious bodily injury or death.
Governor Hobbs vetoed the bill, saying it would have undermined trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement and could have led to racial profiling. Hobbs has previously said that Arizona should not be in the business of enforcing federal immigration law — a view aligned with many Democrats who argue that local entanglement in immigration enforcement can have unintended legal and social consequences.
Senator Kavanagh sharply disagreed, framing the veto as a dereliction of duty.
“Hobbs continues to give her veto stamp more attention than the citizens she’s required to protect,” Kavanagh said in a statement. “People are fed up with the massive tsunami of dangerous criminals who have entered this country illegally.”
He added that the bill was a way to align Arizona with federal deportation efforts and referenced the recent Laken Riley Act, a congressional proposal with bipartisan support that also centers on deportation of illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes.
The bill comes at a time when immigration remains a political issue in Arizona, a border state that has long wrestled with foreign nationals attempting to enter illegally into the U.S. Republican lawmakers have increasingly advocated for state-level legislation to fill what they see as gaps in federal immigration enforcement. Democrats, however, claim that such bills often cast too wide a net and risk violating constitutional protections.
Governor Hobbs has issued more than 100 vetoes since taking office in 2023 — a record-setting pace that reflects the divided government in Arizona, where Republicans control the Legislature and Democrats hold the governor’s office.
With the latest veto, the clash between state lawmakers and the governor over immigration policy is likely to continue into the next legislative session and could become a focal point in upcoming elections.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
On Sunday, Mother’s Day, the Mesa Police Department commemorated 10 years since the death of Sergeant Brandon Mendoza.
At 32 years old and with 13 years on the force, Mendoza was slain while returning from work by a drunk illegal immigrant driving the wrong way on the freeway. His killer, Raul Silva-Corona, had a lengthy criminal record and was driving without a license at the time of the accident. Silva-Corona was high on meth and his blood-alcohol content was .24 percent, three times the legal limit.
Mendoza died the day after Mother’s Day that year. Mendoza was survived by his parents, siblings, and extended family. It was Mendoza’s dream since childhood to become a police officer, according to his obituary and subsequent interviews with his mother, Mary Ann Mendoza.
It’s been 10 years and your family, friends, and community still feel your loss. Sergeant Brandon Mendoza was killed on his way home from work on May 12, 2014 by a wrong way driver on the freeway. Remembering you, today and always.. Sgt. Brandon Mendoza EOW 05-12-2014. pic.twitter.com/PDEK32s4bp
Silva-Corona’s criminal record dated back for nearly 20 years to 1994, when he was arrested for burglary and assaulting an officer in Colorado. Silva-Corona skipped out on his sentencing hearing, avoiding detection until 2012 when Border Patrol discovered him in Arizona and transported him back to Colorado. Instead of imprisonment or deportation, Colorado sentenced Silva-Corona to probation and freed him.
Mendoza’s mother, Mary Ann, would later become a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, a sharp departure from predecessor Barack Obama and successor Joe Biden. Mary Ann appeared frequently on Trump’s 2016 campaign trail.
“Every person who’s here illegally is going to have a sob story about their family being ripped apart,” said Mendoza in 2017. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for them if they’ve committed a crime. My family’s already been ripped apart.”
After her son’s death, Mary Ann petitioned Obama to ban illegal immigrants from registering vehicles. She also founded Angel Families, a national support and advocacy group for families of individuals killed by illegal immigrants. Mendoza’s organization is engaging in a class action lawsuit against the Biden administration over not enforcing immigration laws.
Mary Ann was a guest speaker for the 2016 Republican National Convention (RNC).
“Every one of the crimes [Silva-Corona] committed had laws that should’ve resulted in jail time, but it didn’t happen. Instead, I had my son’s life stolen from me by a man who was three times the legal limit drunk, was high on meth, and drove for over 35 miles the wrong way on four different freeways, and he had no business being in this country,” said Mary Ann. “His death has left a large void in many people’s lives. This is a good cop’s story, cut short.”
Mendoza was one of the first officers to volunteer to wear a body camera.
Mary Ann was the guest of Congressman Andy Biggs for the 2020 State of the Union address.
The City of Mesa honored Mendoza’s memory in 2015 through the renaming of its baseball field at Guerrero Rotary Park, “Mendoza Field.”
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