State lawmakers are proposing two diametrically opposed requirements on what state and local officials should be doing about illegal immigration.

But only the one sponsored by Senate President Warren Petersen is likely to get a hearing.

The Gilbert Republican wants to mandate that county sheriffs and the state Department of Corrections enter into agreement with the federal government to identify those in their custody who are not here legally. And it also requires both to comply with “detainer requests” to ensure that they are not released in the interim.

That measure has been assigned for a hearing before the Senate Committee on Military Affairs and Border Security.

At the other extreme is a Democratic “Immigrant Trust Act” that would curb the ability of state and local police to “stop, question, arrest, search or detain any person based on actual or suspected citizenship or immigration status.” And it would spell out that if police do pull someone over for a violation, they cannot detain them beyond what it normally would take to issue a citation to enable federal immigration officials to come pick them up.

There are both House and Senate versions of that Democratic proposal. But neither has been set for a hearing.

While the Democrats may not be able to force lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Legislature to give their measure some consideration, they do have something working for them: Gov. Katie Hobbs. And a spokesman for the Democratic governor said she opposes anything that effectively forces the state to use its resources for the federal program.

“We should not have bureaucrats and politicians from Washington, D.C. decide what’s best for our state,” said Christian Slater. “We shouldn’t tie the hands of Arizona law enforcement when the federal government is getting it wrong.”

More to the point, he said a mandate like what Petersen wants is unnecessary, saying the state Department of Corrections and  some local governments already have voluntarily entered into these agreements to work with federal immigration agencies.

At the heart of the Petersen proposal, dubbed the AZ ICE Act, for “Arizona Immigration Cooperation and Enforcement Act,” is what is known as 287(g). That is a provision in federal law that allows state and local agencies to act as immigration enforcement agents.

It requires certain training of officers to ensure they are aware of immigration laws as well as civil rights laws. What that includes is interviewing individuals to ascertain their immigration status, checking Department of Homeland Security databases for information, and issuing “detainers” to hold them until Immigration and Customs Enforcement takes them into custody.

Petersen’s SB1164 would mandate that state and local police enter into these agreements and, by extension, become part of the effort to deport those here illegally.

He has acknowledged there will be a cost to all this, including training. But nothing in his legislation provides any state funds.

At a press conference Monday, Sen. Catherine Miranda, D-Laveen, said there may be situations where it is appropriate for police to hold someone for ICE “if they’re dangerous criminals.”
“Focus on those violent criminals,” she said. But Miranda said she fears that having all law enforcement deputized to enforce federal immigration law could lead to racial profiling.

Rep. Cesar Aguilar said it’s even more basic. He said that a strict detainer requirement is likely to sweep up parents in families with mixed legal status.

“Those parents are not likely to commit crimes,” Aguila said.

“So if they are getting picked up, usually it’s a low level crime,” he said, like a traffic infraction. “But what we’re starting to see is immigration showing up at their house in armored cars to deport them.”

Also being deported, Aguilar said, are veterans.

“So these are not the people that the Republicans are trying to make it seem like these are the worst criminals ever,” he said.

Petersen, whose bill is set for a hearing this week, declined to address what the Democrats said.

But in a press release he made it clear he believes that state and local law enforcement have a role in deporting those not here legally. And he cited figures from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which seeks to end illegal immigration and reduce overall immigration levels of all types.

It puts the annual cost to Arizona taxpayers for illegal immigration at $3.19 billion, including $1.36 billion for education, more than $631 million for police, legal and incarceration, plus unspecified costs for healthcare, public assistance and general government services.

“Ending the border crisis requires an all-hands-on-deck approach,” he said. “This commonsense legislation will not only allow federal and local law enforcement to work together to protect our citizens.”

And there’s the the question of which approach Arizonans prefer given that a majority of voters in the state supported President Trump in November. 

Aguilar acknowledged some of his own constituents voted for Trump.

“They didn’t know it was going to get this bad as it’s getting right now,” he said, with the federal government not just focusing on deporting violent criminals but anyone officers come across who lacks legal status.

“What we’re seeing on the news and social media is not, I think, what most Arizonans who wanted immigration reform were asking for,” Aguilar said.

And there’s something else. Petersen also pointed out that voters also approved, by a 3-2 margin, Proposition 314 which makes it a state crime for those who are not citizens to enter Arizona at other than a port of entry, permits state and local police to arrest those who cross the border illegally, and allows state judges to order deportations.

Sen. Analise Ortiz, for her part, said Prop 314 is irrelevant to the obligation of lawmakers to represent their constituents.

“We have a moral obligation to protect our community, to protect the people in mixed-status families who are living in terror right now, who are afraid to call the police, afraid to take their child to school, who are afraid to drive to the doctors because they could be separated from their loved ones,” said the Phoenix Democrat.

That’s where her bill comes in.

SB 1362, would make it illegal for law enforcement agencies or officials to stop, detain or arrest anyone based solely on that person’s “actual or suspected citizenship or immigration status.” Ortiz said it also would bar police form asking someone’s immigration status “except in rare cases where it is relevant to a specific criminal investigation.”

Also off limits would be using public money, equipment or facilities to enforce any federal program that requires people to register based no only on immigration status but also race, gender, sexual orientation or religion.

The legislation and HB 2807, an identical bill introduced by Democratic Rep. Mariana Sandoval of Goodyear, also would forbid hospitals and health care facilities from collecting information about someone’s immigration or citizenship status unless it is “strictly necessary” to determine if someone is eligible for state services.

That is aimed at SB 1268 sponsored by Sen. Wendy Rogers which would require hospitals that accept certain state payments to gather that information.

The Flagstaff Republican said patients would be told their answers would not affect care nor result in filing a report to immigration authorities. Instead it appears designed to put a price tag on services to those without legal immigration status.

Miranda said the Democratic measures are and designed to “ensure Arizona’s immigrant community feels comfortable seeking medical assistance, reporting crimes and completing their day-to-day activities without fear of deportation.”