PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona voters are set to decide whether to let local police arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the state from Mexico, an authority that would infringe on the federal government’s power over immigration enforcement but would not take effect immediately, if ever.

If Arizona voters approve Proposition 314, the state would become the latest to test the limits of what local governments can do to curb illegal immigration. In the past year, GOP lawmakers in Texas, Iowa and Oklahoma have passed immigration laws. In each case, federal courts have halted states’ efforts to enforce them.

The only presidential battleground state that borders Mexico, Arizona, is no stranger to bitter division over immigration policy. Since the early 2000s, frustration with federal enforcement of Arizona’s border with Mexico has inspired a movement to bring local police departments, which had traditionally left border duties to the federal government, into immigration enforcement.

The state Legislature passed an immigrant smuggling ban in 2005 that allowed Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to carry out immigration enforcement, a 2007 ban on employers knowingly hiring people into the country illegal and a landmark 2010 immigration law that imposed police while enforcing other laws. , to question the legal status of persons suspected of being in the country without authorization.

Arizona voters have been asked to decide immigration issues before. They passed a 2004 law banning some government benefits for people in the country illegally and a 2006 law declaring English the official language of Arizona. They also rejected a 2008 proposal that would have made business-friendly revisions to the state law barring employers from hiring people who are in the country without authorization.

Arizona GOP lawmakers say the proposal is needed to help secure the border as they blame the Biden administration for an unprecedented surge in illegal immigration. Record levels of illegal crossings have fallen in recent months following moves by the White House to tighten asylum restrictions.

Opponents of Proposition 314 argue that it would harm Arizona’s economy and reputation, as well as lead to racial profiling of Latinos. They cite the profiling that Latinos endured when Arpaio led the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. In 2013, a federal judge ruled that Latinos were racially profiled in Arpaio’s traffic patrols targeting immigrants, leading to a court-ordered overhaul of the agency that is expected to cost taxpayers $314 million in legal and compliance costs by mid-summer 2025.

Kelli Hykes, who works in health policy and volunteers for Greg Whitten, the Democratic candidate in the race for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, said she thought carefully about how to vote on the immigration measure but declined to share the choice.

“It’s so polarizing, and there are people in my family who will vote one way and I vote another,” Hykes said.

Proposition 314 would make it a state crime for people to illegally enter Arizona from Mexico outside official ports of entry, allowing state and local police to arrest them and state judges to order their deportations. Those who enforce the law would be protected from civil lawsuits.

These provisions, however, would not be immediately applicable. A violator cannot be prosecuted until a similar law in Texas or another state has been in effect for 60 consecutive days.

Arizona GOP lawmakers who voted to put the measure on the ballot were referring to Texas Senate Bill 4. The bill, signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in December, was supposed to allow state and local authorities to arrest people accused of illegally entering Texas from Mexico.

A federal appeals court suspended it in March. The following month, a panel of federal judges heard from a Texas attorney defending the law and from Justice Department lawyers arguing that it violated the federal government’s immigration enforcement authority. The panel has not yet published its decision.

Other provisions of Proposition 314 are not subject to similar laws outside Arizona. If voters approve the measure, it would immediately make the sale of fentanyl that results in a person’s death a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a felony for non-citizens to submit false documents when applying for employment or trying to receive benefits from the local . state and federal programs.

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