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    • The border proposal passes easily, but will not go into effect immediately
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    The border proposal passes easily, but will not go into effect immediately

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    Proposition 314, the legislatively-mentioned ballot measure that would criminalize unauthorized border crossing and allow local and Arizona law enforcement to arrest and deport migrants, passed easily as ongoing votes continue to carry a sizable “Yes” lead “.

    But arrests and prosecutions under the new state crimes established by the ballot measure are unlikely to begin soon.

    Even after the election results become official, the language in Proposition 314 prohibits its immediate implementation, as U.S. federal courts determine whether states can enforce immigration laws. This question could end up before the Supreme Court.

    Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen told the Arizona Republic that Republican Donald Trump’s re-election has lessened the immediate need for state laws like the ones Arizona voters overwhelmingly supported under Proposition 314.

    “Now with the new president, it’s kind of irrelevant because now we have the federal government that’s going to enforce the law,” Petersen said. “As long as the federal government is enforcing the law, we don’t need the state government to be spending resources on it.”

    Although the results of the Arizona election are not yet final, voters appeared poised to approve Proposition 314, also known as the Secure the Border Act, by a two-to-one margin.

    In addition to criminalizing crossing and allowing local police to arrest migrants, the ballot measure also requires immigration status verification to access public benefits and toughens penalties for smuggling fentanyl that results in another person’s death.

    The immigration enforcement provisions of Proposition 314 are based on Texas Senate Bill 4, and the two have similar language. But the latter is blocked from taking effect as 5th The US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans determines whether the law violates the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution.

    US Department of Justice sued Texas in Januaryarguing that the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction to enforce immigration laws. But under a Trump administration, the DOJ could modify or drop its legal challenge, clearing the way for laws like Proposition 314 to take effect.

    Petersen said they added language that allows Proposition 314 to take effect only if federal courts approve Texas Senate Bill 4 to ensure it is constitutional. But the Senate president added that lawmakers would have had to wait another two years before having another chance to get a measure on the ballot, so that was their window of opportunity.

    “Now we have this tool in case we ever need it, if the federal government ever fails to follow the law,” he said. “Now we have something to fall back on and where we can protect our citizens.”

    Arizona voters shift right on immigration, border

    The wide margin by which Proposition 314 passed indicates a rightward shift on immigration among Arizona voters. It mirrors the national attitudes that culminated in the re-election of Trump, who made immigration and the border a central campaign issue.

    The yes vote maintained healthy leads in nearly all of Arizona’s 15 counties, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State.

    But others attribute the “misleading and wrong” ballot language to the plus long number of runs and proposals on the ballot for contributing to the approval of the ballot question.

    Opinion: Republicans are tightening their grip on Arizona. What does this mean for you?

    Reyna Montoya, founder and CEO of Aliento, a group that helps undocumented and mixed-status families in Arizona, said both of those things made it more difficult to fight the measure. Aliento called or knocked on the doors of more than 50,000 voters during the campaign cycle, hoping to get them to vote against Proposition 314.

    “The most pointed part of the description was about border security and fentanyl, making a correlation that undocumented immigrants are to blame for the fentanyl crisis, which is disheartening,” Montoya said.

    Most of the fentanyl that comes into the United States is brought in illegally by US citizens crossing Arizona ports of entry, federal data show.

    Critics vow to defend immigrant communities

    Opponents of Proposition 314 have argued that allowing state and local law enforcement to arrest and deport migrants in Arizona will deepen mistrust between immigrants and police, create the potential for racial profiling and cost taxpayers millions to detain, detain and remove migrants.

    “Proposition 314 will not fix the flaws in our immigration system, nor will it ‘secure the border’ in the way its supporters have represented,” said Noah Schramm, border policy strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona. The group said it was considering all legal options.

    The Phoenix-based community group Living United for Change in Arizona, or LUCHA, knocked on more than 612,000 Latino voters’ doors this election cycle. Executive Director Alejandra Gomez said the passage of Proposition 314 was a dark moment for Arizona.

    If implemented, the ballot measure would “bring about racial profiling, family separations and a climate of fear targeting Latino families and immigrants in Arizona,” Gomez said. “Our communities and our economy will suffer. Immigrant-owned small businesses, a cornerstone of Arizona’s economy, could be crushed.”

    Greisa Martinez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream, an advocacy group for younger undocumented immigrants and Deferred Action recipients, said the ballot measure is meant to make immigrants feel unsafe in the communities where they grew up and in which I live.

    “They want to make our neighborhoods zones of harassment and intimidation, where our communities and neighbors could be stopped, questioned and deported,” she said. “Regardless of the circumstances, our people refuse to be pushed into the shadows.”

    Montoya said that regardless of the results and if Proposition 314 goes into effect, Aliento will continue its work advocating for undocumented and mixed-status families.

    “I might have lost a battle,” she said. “But we will keep moving forward until we build a state that continues to honor the contributions of immigrants.”

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