GOP effort to prohibit sanctuary cities dead
Ducey drops proposal for constitutional ban
Gov. Doug Ducey’s contentious attempt to cement a ban on sanctuary cities in the state constitution is dead.
A representative for the Republican leader confirmed Thursday evening that Ducey had made a “joint decision” with legislative leaders to halt resolutions he’d asked GOP lawmakers to carry in both chambers.
The Senate version had received a committee hearing last week and was expected to advance to the full body for consideration. The House version was set to be heard in committee Friday morning.
“The Governor stands firmly with the people of Arizona in opposition to sanctuary cities,” spokesman Patrick Ptak said in a statement. “While these proposals will not be moving forward, the state of Arizona will continue to oppose any effort to create sanctuary cities.”
Policies limiting how local law enforcement can help federal immigration authorities are already illegal in
Arizona. The Legislature banned so-called sanctuary cities in 2010 as part of hardline immigration law Senate Bill 1070, which also required law enforcement to try to determine the citizenship status of anyone they had reasonable suspicion to believe was in the country illegally.
Earlier this year, Ducey asked Republican legislators to refer the question of a constitutional amendment banning sanctuary cities to voters.
That way, only voters — not lawmakers — would have the power to repeal it.
Mounting tensions over revisiting a ban
The idea of revisiting a sanctuary city ban spurred division the moment Ducey announced his plans, during his State of the State address in January.
Supporters said the move would simply make the existing ban “concrete,” arguing that sanctuary cities sanctioned undocumented immigration.
Democrats described the measures as an electionyear ploy to drive Republicans to the polls, however.
They and other detractors said sanctuary city policies help ensure immigrants who are in the country illegally, as well as their families, can feel comfortable cooperating with police without worrying local law enforcement will turn them over to federal agents.
Several community advocacy groups issued statements in the following weeks asking the governor and Legislature not to proceed with the measures, contending passage would thrust the state back into the turmoil it faced during and after SB 1070’s adoption.
Tensions boiled over at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last Thursday when migrant-rights advocates showed up to protest the Senate resolution.
Sen. Eddie Farnsworth, the Gilbert Republican who chairs the committee, bristled at the suggestion the proposal was racist, cutting off public comment and calling security on the activists.
Another public hearing devolved into chaos in the House on Tuesday when Randy Perez, democracy director for Living United for Change Arizona, challenged an election bill “in the broader context of what’s happening this week and last week with the Legislature.”
Democrats claim win; GOP says fight isn’t over
A spokesman for House Republicans said in a statement Thursday evening that lawmakers would “remain vigilant to keep these bad policies out of Arizona.”
Rep. T.J. Shope, the Coolidge Republican who sponsored the House measure, tweeted Thursday evening that he would continue to “stand firmly against sanctuary cities.”
“Here we respect the rule of law, and it will remain that way,” he wrote.
Democratic legislators, meanwhile, claimed victory alongside migrant-rights advocates.
“This is what the power of the people looks like,” Rep. Andres Cano, D-Tucson, tweeted.
Rep. Athena Salman, D-Tempe, tweeted “‘¡Sí se puede! #NoSB1070,” a popular rallying cry in Spanish that means “Yes, we can!”
State Rep. Diego Rodriguez, D-Phoenix, said he was “hopeful that this marks the end of the beginning.”
“The truth is that this happened because people of good conscience on all sides came together behind the idea that Arizona is better when we are united!” he tweeted.