Arizona governor vetoes bill supporting federal immigration efforts

Gov. Katie Hobbs of Arizona on stage during an Inauguration Ceremony at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, Ariz., on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. Hobbs vetoed a bill on Friday that would have supported the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts by requiring state and local officials to cooperate with federal immigration officials. (Rebecca Noble/The New York Times)

By Christina Morales

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill Friday that would have supported the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts by requiring state and local officials to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

Under the legislation, state and local officials would not have been able to restrict cooperation with federal officials on immigration enforcement or to block the use of federal resources and grant funds to help with such efforts. It also would have required them to assist with immigration detainers, or requests from the federal government to hold certain people in custody until Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials can pick them up.

In a letter explaining her veto, Hobbs, a Democrat, said, “Arizonans, not Washington, D.C., politicians, must decide what’s best for Arizona.”

“I will continue to work with the federal government on true border security, but we should not force state and local officials to take marching orders from Washington, D.C.,” she added in the letter, addressed to Warren Petersen, the state Senate president.

Petersen, who sponsored the bill, called the measure “a vital action to help safeguard our communities” after legislators passed it this month. He and other state Republican leaders were not available for comment on the veto Saturday.

State Republicans had branded the bill as a necessary measure to “uphold the rule of law” against illegal immigration, arguing that anything short of it would be an affront to those who came to the country legally.

But state Democrats argued that the measure could lead to racial profiling and compromised due process rights. The Arizona House Democrats thanked Hobbs for vetoing the measure in a statement posted on the social platform X.

It was not clear whether legislators would try to override the veto. They would need a two-thirds majority.

Hobbs’ veto comes as the Trump administration has ramped up its crackdown on immigration and as states across the country grapple with how, and whether, to cooperate with federal officials.

Because states have the ability to decide whether to work with them, there has been a patchwork of bills on this matter that have passed or are working through state legislatures.

In Florida, for instance, state lawmakers passed measures that take a harder stance on immigration, including one that set aside $250 million for local police departments to help federal officials. And in Alabama, the state House passed a bill this past week that would empower local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws.

But in Colorado, the state Senate recently approved a bill that would limit local governments’ cooperation with federal officers.