Arizona voters passed Proposition 314 this week. The measure makes crossing the border in between ports of entry a state crime and giving local police immigration-related arrest authority.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway said the measure is causing unease in the county seat of Nogales, which is 95% Hispanic.
“This is not, you know, like some of the rhetoric says, an ‘invasion.’ This is just the natural historic makeup of my community,” he said. “So, it would potentially create tension between us and the local community where if people … needed law enforcement because there was an act of violence going on or they were being burglarized, they may be hesitant to call the local police.”
Hathaway said in his small county, federal law enforcement outnumbers local officers 30 to 1, and enforcing Proposition 314 would require far more manpower, jail space, training and funding than his 40-officer department has. And, he says, it’s not even allowed to take effect.
“It actually says in the text that this law does not take effect until a similar law in Texas, Senate Bill 4 in Texas, is adjudicated by the courts,” he said.
SB 4 has been blocked for months while an appeals court decides whether the law is unconstitutional. Both laws have drawn comparisons to Arizona’s notorious SB 1070, which was largely struck down by the Supreme Court more than a decade ago.
Hathaway believes asking his deputies to carry out those arrests could open them up to racial profiling lawsuits. He says many questions still remain about how it would work, and he’s already heard from members of Nogales’ bi-national community that families who’ve spent generations there could be targeted.
“Down here in my community, a largely Hispanic community, there is the fear that everybody would be targets, despite their status, and what would be the process to enforce this? Would there be additional training?,” he asked. “From my perspective, you would need to have the attorney general in Arizona to come out with a legal opinion like guidance for all law enforcement agencies in Arizona. And my local county attorney.”
