by Daniel Stefanski | Jan 9, 2025 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Members of Arizona’s Republican delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives were key to a border-related bill passing their chamber.
In one of the first legislative actions of the 119th Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 29, the Laken Riley Act, which was introduced by U.S. Congressman Mike Collins from Georgia. All members of Arizona’s Republican delegation voted in favor of the bill, as did one Democrat, U.S. Representative Greg Stanton.
According to its congressional summary, H.R. 29, if enacted would “require the Department of Homeland Security to detain certain non-U.S. nationals who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.”
One of Arizona’s Republicans who voted for the legislation, U.S. Congressman Eli Crane, said, “I’m pleased to report that the Laken Riley Act passed out of the House of Representatives. This bill will protect our communities and give our law enforcement agencies the resources they need to prevent avoidable tragedies. It’s appalling that 159 Democrats sided with criminal aliens by voting against this commonsense measure. Despite their senseless opposition, I’m glad we were once again able to get this bill across the finish line. I appreciate Rep. Mike Collins for his leadership, and I look forward to its swift passage in the U.S. Senate before heading to President Trump’s desk.”
Crane’s press release highlighted that this bill “directly addresses one of the federal policy failures related to Laken Riley’s murder. Her murderer, Jose Ibarra, is an illegal alien who had been previously cited for shoplifting by the Athens Policy Department. If local law enforcement had called ICE, and ICE issued a detainer and picked him up, Laken would be alive.”
U.S. Congressman Abraham Hamadeh added, “While we cannot possibly remediate the pain caused at the hands of violent illegal immigrants, we must do all we are able to do to stop illegal immigrant crime before it begins and save future American lives. This should be a unanimous and non-partisan issue. I’m grateful for my colleagues who see this as such.”
U.S. Congressman Juan Ciscomani wrote, “Securing the southern border and protecting our citizens is a top priority in the 119th Congress! I voted for & cosponsor HR 29, the Laken Riley Act, to honor her memory and ensure bad actors here illegally are detained to prevent innocent lives from being lost to the crisis.”
The bill was named after a young woman at a Georgia nursing school who was horrifically and tragically murdered by an illegal immigrant in the United States. Late last year, the murderer was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole. After the conclusion of the trial, President-elect Donald J. Trump said, “JUSTICE FOR LAKEN RILEY! The Illegal who killed our beloved Laken Riley was just found GUILTY on all counts for his horrific crimes. Although the pain and heartbreak will last forever, hopefully this can help bring some peace and closure to her wonderful family who fought for Justice, and to ensure that other families don’t have to go through what they have. We love you, Laken, and our hearts will always be with you. It is time to secure our Border, and remove these criminals and thugs from our Country, so nothing like this can happen again!”
The Laken Riley Act now heads to the U.S. Senate, where it will need all Republicans and at least seven Democrats to support its passage in order to send it to the president’s desk for his signature. U.S. Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat, co-sponsored the measure, saying, “Laken Riley’s story is a tragic reminder of what’s at stake when our systems fail to protect people. No family should have to endure the pain of losing a loved one to preventable violence. Immigration is what makes our country great. I support giving authorities the tools to prevent tragedies like this one while we work on comprehensive solutions to our broken system.”
Allyson and John Phillips, Riley’s mother and stepfather, spoke out in support of the bill as it proceeded through the congressional process. They said, “The Laken Riley Act has our full support because it would help save innocent lives and prevent more families from going through the kind of heartbreak we’ve experienced. Laken would have been 23 on January 10th. There is no greater gift that could be given to her and our country than to continue her legacy by saving lives through this bill. Every single member of Congress should be able to get behind this purely commonsense bill that will make our country and communities safer. We thank Congressman Mike Collins, Senator Katie Britt, and Senator Ted Budd for continuing to work to honor Laken’s legacy and get this legislation enacted into law.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Jan 7, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan has taken his oath and is geared up to begin his term after 40 years of moving up in the ranks. In an interview with FOX 10’s Brian Webb, Sheridan set out his agenda for leading the law enforcement agency responsible for protecting the fourth most-populist county in the nation.
“I wore that uniform for 40 years, said deputy sheriff on it, and now my patch says sheriff,” Sheridan told Webb. “I don’t think the reality has kicked in.”
On Jan. 2nd, just under 48 hours into his new role, Sheridan sat for the interview and set out his top priorities. The first crisis he intends to tackle is homelessness. “I’ve reached out to some of the [Non-Governmental Organizations] that help with some of the missions, and I’ve already had discussions with them about what we can do to help you get people off the street,” he told Fox10.
Sheridan will also be placing a huge emphasis on collaborating with the second Trump administration on immigration enforcement in a return to the path blazed by former Sheriff Joe Arpaio. “I will focus on arresting criminals now,” he told Webb. “Whether they’re illegal aliens or not, doesn’t matter to me.”
In a post to X he wrote, “Spent my first 9 hours as Sheriff with the people that keep us all safe; our detention officers, deputies & 911 operators. I am so proud of the work they do & to be their Sheriff.”
At the outset though, there are some internal matters that Sheridan will need to address, such as resurrecting the county’s volunteer posse system, which was placed under review by Sheriff Penzone in 2017 and criticized by several media outlets for its long-time association with Sheriff Arpaio. Sheridan also told the outlet he will be directing a lot of his attention to ramping up staffing in the agency which employs about 3,500 personnel out of an allotted 4,000, according to the agency’s website. Per ABC15 reporting from September, the department is currently shorthanded by about 800 detention officers.
Sheridan also took time to push back on media criticisms for his membership in the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA). To which he responded, “Don’t forget, I took an oath to support the Constitution of United States and the constitution in laws of the State of Arizona, and I will be faithful to that oath.”
Sheridan shared video of his sign on in a brief broadcast to the department in the opening minutes of 2025. “It’s an honor to be your new sheriff,” Sheridan said. “It’s an honor and pleasure to work with everybody because I know you act with integrity.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Dec 9, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A prominent Arizona law enforcement official has joined a national immigration organization as an advisor.
Late last month, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) revealed that Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb would be joining its ranks as a Law Enforcement Advisor.
According to FAIR, Lamb “will spearhead FAIR’s law enforcement outreach efforts, engaging officers and agencies across the nation on immigration issues. He will help expand FAIR’s partnerships with local law enforcement and provide insight into the critical role these agencies play in addressing the challenges posed by illegal immigration. Sheriff Lamb will also serve as a media spokesperson and participate in FAIR’s podcasts to discuss current immigration issues.”
In a statement about his new role on a recent podcast episode, Lamb said, “I’m excited. I want to stay involved with the border stuff, want to stay involved in law enforcement, and what better opportunity to do it than right through FAIR?”
“We are thrilled to have Sheriff Lamb bring his hands-on experience and deep understanding of the border crisis to FAIR,” said Julie Kirchner, executive director of FAIR. “His firsthand knowledge of the dangers and complexities local communities face due to mass illegal immigration makes him a valuable asset. Sheriff Lamb will play a vital role in our ongoing efforts to work with law enforcement agencies to develop practical solutions to illegal immigration.”
Lamb quickly shot to national prominence through his position as the Sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona, which has been a hotspot for illegal immigrant and cartel activity. Pinal County is positioned between the southern border with Mexico and Maricopa County, making it a significant thoroughfare for illegal activity. Sheriff Lamb has highlighted the issues his county and state have been facing due to the increasing dangers of illegal immigration, including by hosting groups of elected officials from all around the country, who tour locations that are frequented by drug smugglers looking to take their loads from the border away into the heartland of the country.
The law enforcement professional will be taking a break from public service after his term is complete at the end of this year. Lamb served eight years as county sheriff and had oversight of more than 600 employees. In a recent interview with a local publication, Lamb reflected on his time in office, saying, “We’re very proud of all those accomplishments. I think when people look at me they say, ‘well here’s this conservative sheriff,’ but they don’t realize that I’m actually working hard for reentry, helping people in jail, helping people in the community — even the border stuff, when we contact these people, we give them the most care, we treat them with respect. We understand their plight, coming to this country. They did it illegally, but we understand it.”
He added, “We have learned to really inject humanity into this profession, but I’m also not a pushover and I’m not going to let you push bad social ideas and agendas on me either. We’re going to stand true to what we believe in and we’re gonna do it while we protect everybody and their rights and we treat everybody really well.”
Republican Ross Teeple will replace Lamb as Pinal County Sheriff after winning the General Election with almost 64% of the vote. Teeple previously served as one of Lamb’s Lieutenant Sheriffs and earned the endorsement of his boss. He has served the people of Arizona and America for more than thirty years, starting in the United States Navy.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Dec 6, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona’s Senate President recently highlighted the exorbitant cost of illegal immigration to his state.
Last week, state Senator Warren Petersen shared a recent study on what the city of Denver, Colorado was spending on illegal immigration. He contrasted Denver’s “sanctuary city” approach to that just experienced by the State of Arizona, where voters passed a border security ballot measure, Proposition 314.
Petersen said, “And the media in AZ was pushing a false narrative that it would cost us money to enforce immigration laws. When in fact we save money. The cost of illegal immigration to AZ is 2 Billion. Cost of enforcement is significantly less. The voters didn’t buy the false media narrative. They passed our border security act by nearly 2 to 1.”
The study promoted by the Arizona legislator was from the Common Sense Institute, which showed that Denver had expended $356 million of taxpayer dollars on illegal immigrants – almost $8,000 per foreign national purportedly in the municipality, which amounts to eight percent of its 2025 budget.
According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), illegal immigration cost Arizona taxpayers around $3.19 billion in 2023 – an annual burden of $1,189 for each state household (or each illegal alien costing the state $5,230). As in Denver, a large share of that financial total was for educational expenses ($1.36 billion). More than half a billion dollars was shelled out for police, legal, and corrections in the Grand Canyon State.
In 2023, it was estimated that 453,000 illegal immigrants lived in Arizona, with their households sending 109,602 students to local schools.
Last month, Arizona voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 314, which was referred to the ballot by Republican legislators earlier this year – with almost 63% of voters supporting the measure. Prop 314, which mostly is in effect now, gives local law enforcement and communities more resources to combat illegal immigration in their state and to protect innocent men, women, and children from the dangers that the open border has increasingly presented over the past four years of the Biden-Harris administration.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Dr. Thomas Patterson | Nov 22, 2024 | Opinion
By Dr. Thomas Patterson |
Democrats in the last election insisted that re-electing them was necessary to “protect our democracy.” But it turns out that for many of them, democracy only deserves protection when the democratic process produces their preferred result.
Prop. 314 was proposed to allow police to arrest immigrants who don’t cross the border at a legal point of entry and to deny public benefits to illegal immigrants. It was approved by over 60% of the voters. Sounds like democracy at work, right?
Not to Phoenix councilmember-elect Anna Hernandez, who vowed that the “Phoenix Council must move immediately to protect immigrant refugee residents in the city from the violence of 314… I am ready for this fight.” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, like many others, was also on board with the resistance, promising that neither the Phoenix Police Department nor “any city resources whatsoever” would be involved in enforcing this particular law. So much for respecting the democratic process.
Yet more Americans are beginning to realize our immigration policy sorely needs major corrections. In 1995, the Chairwoman of the Commission on Immigration Reform, Barbara Jordan, herself a civil rights icon, told Congress, “Deportation is crucial. Credibility in immigration policy can be summarized in one sentence: those who should get in, get in; those who should be kept out are kept out; and those who should not be here will be required to leave…For the system to be credible, people have to be deported at the end of the process.”
She’s right. There is no way to fix Kamala’s “broken immigration system,” (her words) that doesn’t involve deportation to undo the damage done.
Here’s where we are. The low hanging fruit is the 1.3 million aliens who have been given their due process and are legally qualified for deportation. They are part of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “non-detain docket” of 7 million aliens, including criminals, who have not yet been processed but otherwise are eligible for deportation. Congress already has authorized ICE to deport all these individuals.
The obstacle is that their “recalcitrant” home countries refuse to provide the travel documents needed for the return of their own nationals. (Hmm. Wonder why.). The Supreme Court has ruled that all those, even the criminals, who are not deported within six months must be released.
However, under U.S. law, once the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has notified the State Department that a foreign country “denies or unreasonably delays” the return of its nationals, the Secretary of State must order consular officials to discontinue granting all visas to that country. That would surely get the attention of “recalcitrant” like China and India. Yet the Biden/Harris administration, ever loathe to stem the inflow of future Democrats, refused.
Despite the massive surge at the border following the 2021 inauguration, fewer than half as many aliens were removed by the Biden/Harris administration as during the previous four years. Instead, they alternated between laughably claiming the border was safely closed and that the only way to “fix” the problem was a comprehensive amnesty program combined with greater funding at the border but only to expedite the processing of immigrants.
There are other remedies that would mitigate the damage. The DHS secretary is allowed by law to require all aliens without a green card to be registered and fingerprinted. This would not only get a handle on the “gotaways” and criminals who have melted into the population. History suggests it would also trigger voluntary departures.
Finally, we could enforce the E-Verify program and compel employers to check on their workers’ immigration status. Many employers prefer cheap, compliant employees, but the long-term costs to our nation are too great. Absent the economic incentives, both public and private, few illegal immigrants would remain.
We are inviting many long-term economic and political problems by accommodating a cohort that will inevitably demand increased government support as they age. But more importantly, the Rule of Law is our legacy as Americans, the key to our freedom and prosperity. Ignoring the law at our border is a horrible mistake.
Border control and deportation don’t require more funds, more laws, or military action. It is a matter of simply enforcing the law for the protection of us all.
Dr. Thomas Patterson, former Chairman of the Goldwater Institute, is a retired emergency physician. He served as an Arizona State senator for 10 years in the 1990s, and as Majority Leader from 93-96. He is the author of Arizona’s original charter schools bill.
