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Arizona Lawmaker Drops Border Travel Warning Bill
Photo courtesy Arizona State Legislature.
Arizona State Representative Peggy Judd, a Republican from Nogales.
TUCSON, Ariz. -- An Arizona state lawmaker agreed to kill off a measure that would have created a travel warning for Southern Arizona after community leaders balked.
Republican Peggy Judd is a state representative for a border district that spreads among much of Southern Arizona; a swath extending from Willcox to Nogales, Ariz. So she surprised many in her community when she proposed a bill in early March that would have created a 62-mile travel alert zone.
Any time something came up involving terrorism or illegal immigration that might have been a safety concern, the state's Department of Homeland Security would have put out a warning, according to the bill.
That riled business owners, mayors, and shipping companies, all of whom stated they feared that a travel warning would have scared tourists and business away from the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona.
Judd backed down March 12 after community leaders from the border region went to Phoenix to complain. She killed off her own bill after that meeting.
The state House had given the bill preliminary approval before it died.