The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) announced the launch of dontCAmyAZ.com on Friday. The website is designed to educate Arizonans about the dangers of adopting California-like policies that have irrevocably damaged what was once one of the most prosperous states in America, and highlighting the growing influence that California politics are having on Arizona.
Aimee Yentes, Vice President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club introduced the website in a statement: “For years, we have warned about the oppressive, big-government policies of California being imported to our state. Yet, as more people escape the high crime and unaffordability of California and other blue states, Arizona’s safe, affordable, and free way of life is in jeopardy. The ‘Don’t CA my AZ’ campaign will educate residents all over the state about how they can help to keep AZ free.”
The AFEC warned that the Arizona legislature is currently held by a slim Republican majority in both the state house and senate which are effectively holding back the tide. The governor’s office is currently held by Democrat Katie Hobbs who has pledged to apply her full efforts to flipping the legislature rather than attempt to work in a bipartisan fashion with the Republican majorities, and actively vetoes every piece of legislation she can. The club explains that Hobbs is seeking to “put us on a glide path to becoming another California.” They warn, “Should Democrats control both chambers of the state legislature, the Left would control the trifecta of power, which hasn’t occurred in Arizona for more than sixty years.”
DontCAmyAZ.com offers a breakdown of bills and initiatives introduced in the Arizona legislature which would bring about the same policies and systems “that have destroyed the once great state of California.”
The site classifies the bills under three categories:
Dangerous Open Borders & Endless Crime
“Just like in California, the Arizona Left wants open borders and endless taxpayer incentives for illegal aliens. They’ll invite California-level crime by slashing criminal sentences, legalizing squatting, eliminating bail, and fully decriminalizing theft – attracting sophisticated crime rings to our state.”
Costly High Taxes & High Unemployment
“Just like in California, the Arizona Left wants to make Arizona one of the highest tax states in the country, shut down building single family homes altogether, and crush small businesses with a high regulatory burden.”
Oppressive Woke Schools & Corruption
“Just like in California, the Arizona Left wants state-sanctioned racial discrimination, gender mutilation surgeries for minors, to repeal the Parents Bill of Rights, draconian penalties for ‘climate crimes’ and to reward their political allies with taxpayer dollars.”
As AFEC stated clearly, “If given the ability to turn these bills into law, Arizona would see endless crime, high costs and taxes, and woke oppressive culture that now defines California.”
Alongside the website, the club has social media accounts on X, Instagram and TikTok to carry this message to younger voters and alert them to the dangers of such California-esque policies.
A north central Phoenix legislative district may have a chance to replace its open-borders Democrat state senator in the upcoming November election.
State Senator Christine Marsh is running for reelection in Arizona Legislative District 4 this November. Based on her history of election finishes, Marsh may be in for another close contest in the swing district, and her continued opposition of legislative efforts to help secure the state’s border and support law enforcement may cost her votes in this contest.
Marsh has served in the Arizona Legislature since January 2021. In the November 2020 General Election, she defeated Republican State Senator Kate Brophy McGee by fewer than 500 votes in Legislative District 28 (under the last redistricting lines). The previous election, McGee had bested Marsh by 267 votes in the 2018 General Election.
In the first election under the new redistricting lines for the decade, Marsh won another narrow victory over Nancy Barto by less than 1,200 votes for the right to represent the citizens of Legislative District 4.
Throughout her time in the Arizona Legislature, the Democrat legislator has been a fierce opponent of her state’s meaningful efforts to help secure the border and support law enforcement attempting to protect local communities from many of the harms stemming from the escalating crisis. In 2021, Marsh voted against SCR 1011, which “declare[d] that the Legislature calls on the President and Congress to take immediate and decisive action to secure the southern border and complete the southern border wall.” She also voted against HCR 2029, which “commend[ed] the courage of the United States Border Patrol and recognize[d] the role they play[ed] in safeguarding Arizona and the U.S.”
The following year, Marsh voted no on a $700,000 appropriation from the state General Fund in FY 2023 to the Border Security Fund for the construction and maintenance of a physical border fence (SB 1032). Additionally, she opposed an authorization for the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs “to use up to $250,000 from the Border Security Fund to pay for additional full-time equivalent positions” (HB 2591).
In the first year of her most-recent term in office (2023), Marsh continued her streak of opposition to proposals that would secure the border. She voted no on HCM 2007, which “expressed the legislative desire that Congress enact the State Immigration Enforcement Act.” According to the history provided by the Arizona House of Representatives, this act “would allow states or political subdivisions of states, to enact, implement, and enforce criminal penalties that are prohibited in the criminal provisions of immigration laws.”
This year, Marsh voted no on HB 2157, which would have “prohibit[ed] a court from using a defendant’s deportation as the sole reason for early termination of probation or intensive probation.” She opposed SB 1231, which would have made “it unlawful for a person who is an alien to enter Arizona from a foreign nation at any location other than a lawful port of entry.”
When Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed SB 1231, she wrote, “This bill does not secure our border, will be harmful for communities and businesses in our state, and burdensome for law enforcement personnel and the state judicial system.”
However, Republicans felt differently about the failure of this bill to receive a green stamp of approval from the governor – especially the sponsor, Senator Janae Shamp. The first-term lawmaker said, “The Republican-controlled Legislature will continue to prioritize closing our border and providing law enforcement with the tools they need. This veto is a slap in the face to them, Arizona’s victims of border-related crimes, and other citizens who will inevitably feel the wrath of this border invasion in one way, shape, or form at the hands of Hobbs and Biden.”
Marsh also voted against SCR 1042, which “proclaim[ed] the Legislature’s support for the people and government of the state of Texas in its efforts to secure [the United States’] southern border.”
More recently, Marsh refused to support a legislative effort to refer a border security measure to the ballot in this November’s General Election – HCR 2060, voting against the bill when it was considered by her chamber. The proposal, if passed by voters in the fall, would empower local law enforcement to better secure their communities from the increasing calamities from the border crisis.
It’s not just her votes in the Arizona Legislature that have propelled Marsh into being one of her party’s leading open-border advocates; it’s also what she has said to others about her extreme left-wing positions about the issue. Earlier in her career, Marsh was interviewed by a group over Zoom and was asked if she would “work to end the collaboration of local law enforcement with ICE in an effort to stop state sanctioned violence against some of our most vulnerable community members and especially our undocumented LGBTQ community.”
The Democrat lawmaker responded, “Yeah, absolutely. Our treatment of the LGBTQ+ immigrants by every level of law enforcement needs to be made more humane, and I will definitely look for ways once in office to make sure that that happens.”
Marsh added, “I actually did quite a bit of research on this particular question and it’s fascinating, and I did not know that there was basically state-sanctioned violence, and I find it just totally offensive.”
According to a website reporting some of Marsh’s key positions and votes, Marsh supposedly “liked a tweet calling for abolishing ICE” back in 2018 from Alyssa Milano.
Marsh ran unopposed for the Democrat nomination for state senator in the July primary election. She will face off against Republican Carine Werner in the November General Election.
According to the Arizona Legislative District 4 Democrat Party, Republicans control 38% of the district’s voter registration, compared to 27% Democrats and 35% Other. In 2022, LD 4 had a higher voter turnout than both Maricopa County and the State of Arizona at 76%.
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Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) is investigating reports of the northern border points of entry remaining open for 24 hours without any Border Patrol agents to man them.
In a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Acting Commissioner Troy Miller, Biggs relayed that he and other congressmen were receiving reports that the Canadian border points of entry have been left open and unattended for extended periods of time.
Additionally, Biggs relayed that unnamed sources reported CBP agents and staff receiving instructions to open points of entry for up to 24 hours a day despite not having sufficient personnel to operate them.
NEW: I’ve learned from sources at the northern border that Biden’s DHS is leaving ports of entry completely unmanned.
Border crossing data reflects an increased number of illegal border crossings in the same area — namely by foreign nationals hailing from Asian and Middle Eastern countries — which Biggs pointed out.
Biggs posed several questions to Mayorkas concerning the current hours of operation for points of entry along the northern border, as well as the staffing levels for regular and extended operating hours of the border and each point of entry. Copies of all memoranda, guidance, and similar materials relating to operating hours along the northern border were requested.
Joining Biggs in the letter were Reps. Tom Tiffany (R-WI-07) and Matt Rosendale (R-MT-02).
If Mayorkas responds with any affirmative of an open border policy — meaning, extending operating hours without sufficient personnel oversight — it appears that Biggs and other members of Congress intend to reverse those measures. In a press release, Biggs stated that there was no justification for such an alleged policy.
“There is simply no way to justify an open border policy like this and I look forward to hearing Mr. Mayorkas and Mr. Miller’s rationale behind their current practice,” said Biggs.
Biggs also accused the Biden administration of dismantling border security in the north as they’d done in the south.
“It’s unconscionable to hear that the Biden Administration would authorize inadequately supervised or even completely unmanned ports of entries. The American people deserve to understand the extent of this problem,” said Biggs. “There are numerous recent intelligence reports revealing that the northern border is experiencing an unprecedented surge in illegal border crossings—including by foreign nationals from terror-prone countries.”
My colleagues on the Left boldly assert that there is no border crisis.
They make these assertions while living comfortably in their homes in the Northeast and will end up never visiting our southern border.
Northern border encounters skyrocketed during the 2022 and current fiscal years. (Border encounter fiscal years run from October of the previous year through September). The 2020 fiscal year had about 32,300 encounters, while the 2021 fiscal year had nearly 27,200 encounters.
This last fiscal year, from October 2021 to September 2022, there were over 109,500 encounters — over four times as many as the same time period from October 2020 to September 2021, and over three times as many from October 2019 to September 2020.
Current northern border encounters stand to far surpass the unprecedented increase experienced in the last fiscal year. From October 2022 to May, there were over 115,500 encounters along the northern border. If the average per month encounters continue at this rate for the current fiscal year, there may be over 173,300 encounters by the end of September.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
