In a flurry of action during one of the most hectic days this session, the Legislature sent to the governor’s desk more than a dozen bills, including a homeland security proposal to create a volunteer force — effectively a state militia — that could be deployed by the chief executive in case of emergency.
The Senate also approved a measure prohibiting the state and its agencies from accepting, among others, the identification cards known as matriculas consular given by the Mexican consulate to its citizens living in the United States.
The ID measure is one of several proposals directly or indirectly dealing with the complex issue of illegal immigration that have been approved or are pending in the Legislature.
Bill would create a security force at governor’s control
Sen. Jack Harper, R-4, author of S1132, the homeland security bill, said the governor should sign the measure since it “reinforces her position that the federal government should not have federalized the National Guard over the wishes of the states’ governors.”
In fact, Harper took pains to give the governor as much say as possible in the management of the force, even increasing the number of her appointees to a homeland security committee so they now hold a majority of the nine-member body.
The measure sailed through by a vote of 18-11 with all Republicans on the floor backing it and all Democrats, save one, opposing it.
Harper declined to comment on the possibility of deploying the Homeland Security Force to the border, saying its uses are strictly under the discretion of the state’s commander-in-chief since the force is an executive function. In fact, the senator has been promoting the fact that the volunteer force is not meant as primarily a border security force, although it could be used as so at the governor’s discretion.
The force’s potential uses, without mentioning specifics, are better left to the state governor to decide, Harper said.
Harper also appealed to the governor’s sense of autonomy.
“You may recall that all 50 governors opposed the provision that was in the military appropriations bill last year that Congress passed that said the president could take over (a) state’s National Guard, despite the wishes of the state’s governor, if the president felt that the state couldn’t handle a disaster,” he said, adding that was not much of a standard.
“That was in contrast to our nation’s 230-year history. The states, the colonies, have always had control of their National Guard or militia and so I want to reinforce that principle and give the governor some type of deployable force that could be called up for disaster relief,” he said.
The main argument of Democratic senators against the bill is that the would-be force is redundant.
“Originally, my objection was I see no need for this,” said Senate Minority Leader Marsha Arzberger, D-25, whose district encompasses the majority of Arizona’s border with Mexico.
She said that volunteer groups and civilian organizations attached to or under government units already exist to help in case of emergency.
Sen. Jorge Luis Garcia, D-27, said the governor has, from day one, disliked the bill.
“The folks from the National Guard came in and said it’s not needed, and I suspect she’s going to say it’s not needed. I suspect she will (veto it),” he said, adding that, of course, the governor holds the pen and she may sign the bill into law.
House Democrats have wondered what kind of volunteers the force would attract. One representative surmised that these would be people who do not meet the requirements to join the National Guard.
Earlier, four Democratic votes gave the bill enough numbers to get out of the Senate.
The Democrats backed S1132 after Harper removed the bill’s more contentious points, including a provision stating that members cannot discuss their sexual preferences. This would have been grounds for expulsion.
Instead, it now states that no volunteer can use his or her position to advance a political agenda through the media. The governor is given leeway to determine whether a violation of this provision is unintentional. If not, then that volunteer will be dismissed from the force.
“This is an executive branch function,” Harper said. “I’ve always contended that the governor, if she did not like the policies outlined by the committee, could just override them with an executive order, but that’s not worth risking the bill over. So we’ll amend it to give the governor’s appointees the voting edge in the committee because it is a separation of powers issue.”
An amendment by Harper, adopted on the floor on March 1, also reduced legislative appointees to the would-be Homeland Security Committee to four, and increased the gubernatorial appointees to five, effectively tipping the balance in favor of the executive branch.
Mexican IDs
Also on its way to Napolitano’s desk is S1236, sponsored by Sen. Chuck Gray, R-19. The bill says that the “state or any political subdivision of this state shall not accept a consular identification card that is issued by a foreign government as a valid form of identification.”
The measure was originally authored by Rep. Russell Pearce, R-18, but his bill, H2460, earlier died on the House floor.
Pearce successfully convinced Gray to allow him to use the latter’s bill as a strike-everything amendment carrying the language of H2460. The Senate, voting along partisan lines, approved the Gray bill, 16-13. It also received a highly partisan vote in the House.
Consular ID cards, which contain a photo, a signature and basic facts about an individual, help establish identity and help governments track their citizens in foreign counties. The cards do not specify a person’s residency status and do not carry immigration information.
The Mexican embassy has reported that 160 financial institutions across the nation now accept a matricula consular as proof of identity for opening accounts, according to a Senate fact sheet.
Supporters say they help protect immigrants by giving them the opportunity to access limited services, and that they provide a basic right — the ability to identify oneself. Critics question whether illegal immigrants should have access to such services at all.
Since 2002, the Mexican embassy has begun issuing IDs with additional anti-forging features.
In previous interviews, Pearce said these cards are unverifiable, easily forged and designed for undocumented residents.
“It serves one purpose only — to help illegal aliens maneuver in this state easily and get jobs… and government services,” he said.
“This governor continues to veto any legislation that protects us from illegal aliens and terrorists (over 13 vetoes on bills to control ‘illegal’ aliens and to protect taxpayers),” Pearce lamented in an e-mail response to the Arizona Capitol Times. He was asked what he thought are the chances of the governor signing the consular ID bill.
“This card, according to the FBI and homeland security, is one of the greatest threats to Homeland Security. Let’s deal in facts and not support law breakers. The only constituency for this card is ‘illegal’ aliens. No one else needs it,” he said.
Echoing Pearce, Gray said the ID is an unreliable source of information.
“They are easily falsified and easily obtained without any proof or documentation backing them up, when they are issued even in Mexico,” Gray said. “Plus if you can accept those, then you can start to forge an illegitimate identity with legitimate documents. In other words, you can start to get your driver’s license and things like that verified.”