Arizona court to allow immigration proposal on November ballot

PhoenixThe Arizona Supreme Court has ruled in favor of placing on the November ballot a proposition that would allow local police to make arrests near the state’s border with Mexico.

It is the largest effort to involve local authorities in immigration enforcement since a landmark 2010 state law requiring police to ask people about their immigration status in certain situations.

The court on Tuesday rejected a challenge by Hispanic groups arguing that the ballot measure violated a rule in the state Constitution that legislative proposals must cover a single subject. In an order by Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer, the state’s highest court found that the measure satisfies the single-subject rule.

If approved by voters, the proposal, known as Proposition 314, would make it a state crime to cross the Arizona-Mexico border anywhere other than a port of entry, give state and local law enforcement the power to detain violators and allow state judges to order people back to their home countries.

It would also make it a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison to sell fentanyl that results in a person’s death and require some government agencies to use a federal database to verify a noncitizen’s eligibility for government benefits.

Opponents had argued that the proposal addressed issues unrelated to immigration enforcement, the fentanyl crisis and public benefits regulation. A lower court had previously rejected those arguments.

Although federal law already bars unauthorized entry of immigrants into the United States, supporters of the measure said it is necessary because the federal government has not done enough to stop people from crossing illegally across Arizona’s porous border with Mexico. They also say some people who enter Arizona illegally commit identity theft and take advantage of public benefits.

Opponents say the proposal would lead to racial profiling, damage Arizona’s reputation in the business world and lead to huge unfunded costs for police departments that don’t typically enforce immigration law.