We voted on eight bills and HCR 2060 this week. Three bills died a bipartisan death and the HCR passed on party lines after three hours of vote explanations. I was so proud of my Democratic colleagues who took their three-minute vote explanation to express how this policy would harm Arizona.
On the Republican side, the rhetoric was disturbingly anti-immigrant. There is no correlation between crime and immigration, yet my colleagues across the aisle continually invoked racist tropes and fear-mongering to say immigrants are dangerous. One even compared them to the terrorist group Hamas.
After three hours of discussion and watching this harmful policy pass, we walked out of the chamber to hear chants of opposition to HCR 2060. Groups like LUCHA, Fuerte Arts Movement, and Rural Arizona Engagement, filled us with emotion and raised our spirits, reminding us that Arizonans rejected this racism last time and will reject it again if it makes the ballot.
The facts laid out are clear - HCR 2060 violates the single-subject rule and is unconstitutional. Arizona taxpayers will bear an extremely heavy financial burden if this passes. Texas has spent $1B in the year they passed a similar policy and cost estimates range between $200-$325M to implement 2060 in our state. Our prison, police, and legal systems are not set up to enforce it, and the language is so intentionally vague that it will lead to statewide racial profiling and mass separation of families.
It was a dark time in Arizona after SB 1070. We've experienced it before, we don't need to repeat it. Why risk repeating the same mistake that fails to provide real solutions to our immigration crisis?
