With voter approval of Proposition 314 and President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations, Arizona Republicans appear primed to introduce more legislation that they say will further secure the border and support the Trump administration’s efforts. 

Senate Republicans released their 2025 Majority Plan on Jan. 8 for the upcoming legislative session, which outlines their priorities for border security and other key issues.

In the plan, Republicans highlighted their intention to support the implementation of Proposition 314 by providing resources to law enforcement, assisting the federal government in enforcing immigration law and increasing penalties for fentanyl trafficking and possession. The Prop. 134 ballot measure makes entering the country anywhere other than a port of entry a crime.

However, the GOP could still face obstacles to accomplishing those goals.

The portion of the proposition targeting those who enter the country illegally won’t take effect unless a similar law in Texas or any other state has been in effect for 60 days. The Texas law, Senate Bill 4, is facing legal challenges in federal court.

State law enforcement officials say they will need more money to properly enforce border laws as many agencies contend with a shortage of officers and deputies, and a potential strain on jail facilities.

And any potential border bill will need the approval of Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who last year vetoed a measure similar to the proposition, which she opposed. Many Democrats and activists also opposed the proposition and will likely speak out against any border legislation they deem inhumane.

“I think it’s a real question of what the public’s reaction is going to be to some of these mass deportation policies,” said Noah Schramm, border policy strategist at the ACLU of Arizona. “I think that may well inform what we’re likely to see at the Legislature. You could imagine a scenario where the Trump administration goes quite far, and starts doing deportations in a way that is extraordinarily inhumane that results in families being separated.”

Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said he will introduce several border-related bills in anticipation of Trump’s plan for mass deportations, including legislation that would lease two empty prisons to the federal government for $1 a year.

State officials closed the prisons in Marana and Florence in 2023 as cost-saving measures.

Kavanagh also wants to drop bills requiring all prisons and detention facilities to screen inmates for immigration status upon release and reimbursing law enforcement agencies that send their officers to training that teaches them how to identify those in the country illegally.

“We need to get detention officers all over the state trained to legally determine who’s here illegally, so they can call ICE. I think that’s the number one priority, because getting the criminals out is the most important part of the deportation program,” Kavanagh said.

Law enforcement officials are hoping the state will allocate the money to support agencies as they prepare to enforce any impending border laws.

The Arizona Sheriffs’ Association is requesting about $50 million from the state in the next fiscal year to support local law enforcement agencies’ drug interdiction efforts in border communities.

“Each individual law enforcement agency that’s down along the border will have to make decisions on their own policy and priorities, and a lot of those decisions are going to be informed by the availability of funding,” said Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes, who serves as the association’s president. “The cost of the increased staff that it would require to beef up border security, of local law enforcement, the cost of any impact to the local criminal justice system, incarceration, all that stuff. It can’t just fall to the counties or the local jurisdictions. They don’t have the money.”

Kavanagh, who is chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he sent a letter to the association asking for a detailed breakdown of those figures and described the estimate as “grossly inflated.”

“A large part of this request is based upon the assumption that when illegal immigrants are apprehended crossing the border, rather than agree to leave on their own, they decide to go to court and risk going to prison for six months,” he said.

Kavanagh said he believes the situation along the Arizona/Mexico border will improve based on Trump’s presence in office.

“I don’t think, with Trump as president, we’re going to have waves of illegal immigrants stringing across the border that the Border Patrol and our local police have to apprehend,” he said. “There will be far fewer people crossing the border, which will allow us to focus on the long-term goal of securing the border with a wall.”