Mexican official pleased effort against sanctuary cities is dead.
Jesus Seade Kuri, Mexico’s undersecretary for North America, said Friday he was pleased that Gov. Doug Ducey had decided to back off from his attempt to cement a sanctuary city ban in the Arizona Constitution.
Seade Kuri said he met with Ducey hours before the Governor’s Office announced late Thursday the effort was dead.
While Seade Kuri and Ducey did not discuss the sanctuary ban directly, Seade Kuri said he reminded Ducey and state lawmakers of the “importance of migrants to the development of Arizona,” including an Arizona war hero who was born in Chihuahua.
“We spoke of the closeness of the relationship and if that helped to move things in the right direction, I am very pleased,” Seade Kuri told reporters during a brief press conference at the Mexican consulate in Phoenix.
He was apparently referring to Medal of Honor recipient Silvestre Herrera, a Phoenix resident who fought for the U.S. during World War II while still a Mexican national.
Seade Kuri, undersecretary for North America at the ministry of foreign affairs of Mexico, was Mexico’s chief negotiator for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which Congress approved and Trump signed last month.
The trade agreement, yet to be ratified by Canada, is expected to benefit
Arizona by creating jobs and expanding opportunities for cross border commerce. It replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA.
Ducey backed off the sanctuary city ban bill amid a growing outcry from Latino and immigrant advocacy groups, who drew comparisons with Arizona’s immigration enforcement law, Senate Bill 1070.
The groups warned the sanctuary ban could throw the state back into the social and economic turmoil of the SB 1070 era.
Sanctuary city policies that limit cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities are already banned under SB 1070. Ducey and some Republican lawmakers said they wanted to cement the existing ban by writing it into the state’s constitution.
Democrats and immigrant groups called the sanctuary ban a political tactic aimed at energizing the Republican base to aid President Donald Trump and other Republicans during a presidential election year when Arizona is considered a battleground state.
Seade Kuri was in Phoenix for meetings with Ducey and business leaders.
Seade Kuri told reporters Friday he encouraged Ducey to take steps to begin accepting the use of Mexican consular IDs in Arizona.
In 2010, Arizona passed a bill banning consular IDs from being recognized by local governments as a form of ID. Arizona is one of only two states that do not recognize consular IDs, he said.