Jacques Alejandra Gomez, executive director of Latino advocacy group Living United for Change in Arizona, speaks at a news conference outside the Arizona Supreme Court, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in Phoenix. The news conference was focused on the group’s lawsuit that asks a court to prevent a border proposal from appearing on Arizona’s ballot in November because it contains an alleged constitutional defect.
It also would make it a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison for selling fentanyl that leads to a person’s death and require some government agencies to use a federal database to verify a noncitizen’s eligibility for benefits. “Arizonans have had enough and want change,” House Speaker Ben Toma, a Republican, said in a statement. In a separate statement, Senate President Warren Petersen, also a Republican, said he was confident the measure would survive court scrutiny and win approval from voters in November.
The Arizona proposal is similar to a Texas law that has been put on hold by a federal appeals court while it’s being challenged. A federal appeals court is currently considering Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s appeal of the ruling that blocked enforcement of the state’s law. Opponents say the proposal would inevitably lead to racial profiling by police, saddle the state with new costs from law enforcement agencies that don’t have experience with immigration law and hurt Arizona’s reputation in the business world.