On Monday, the Arizona Legislature passed a resolution to ask for more federal assistance combating the recent increase in illegal border crossings from Mexico.
Specifically, the measure calls on President Joe Biden and Congress “to take immediate and decisive action to secure the southern border and stymie the security and humanitarian crises associated with any further illegal immigration and to as quickly as possible shore up the southern border by completing the southern border wall.”
The bipartisan resolution did not come without intense partisan debate.
“The mantra, ‘Build the Wall,’ it has nothing to do with security or safety. It has no concern for wasting a bunch of money. So I’m concluding that the motivation of all these lathered up voters has to be built on nativism and racism,” said Sen. Juan Mendez, a Democrat who represents Tempe.
Sen. Sine Kerr, who sponsored the resolution, is a Republican from Buckeye.
"My mother was born in Naco, Sonora, Mexico. She became a naturalized citizen in 1969 and was so deeply proud of that,” Kerr said.
Both of Arizona’s U.S. senators, Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, have released statements in recent weeks demanding more immediate action from the Biden administration. Sinema noted that border crossings are at their highest rate in 20 years.
