Hobbs seeks $760 million from Trump administration for Arizona border security costs

Gov. Katie Hobbs is seeking a nearly $760 million reimbursement from the Trump administration for border security costs Arizona has incurred since 2021. 

In a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Hobbs noted that, under her leadership, the state has worked with federal officials to secure the southern border and combat drug and human trafficking. 

“As Governor, I’ve been proud to partner with local, state, and federal law enforcement officials on Task Force SAFE, which is stopping millions of fentanyl pills and thousands of pounds of drugs from flowing into our country,” she wrote in the July 31 letter. “Additionally, your partnership on Operation Desert Guardian has been essential in our efforts to combat cartel operations in the State of Arizona. By working together to deliver on our shared goals, we are making substantial progress in securing the border and curtailing border-related crime.”

Since the beginning of her term in 2023, the Democrat has favored collaborative partnerships between law enforcement agencies instead of the state marshalling its resources to enforce federal immigration laws. The costs of those efforts, coupled with investments made by her predecessor, former Gov. Doug Ducey, add up to roughly $760 million since January 2021. The majority of that has gone toward initiatives that address border-related crimes that spill over into local communities, including those further north in the state. 

That sum represents $102 per Arizona resident, or $2.05 million spent by the state for every mile of its shared border with Mexico.

Arizona may be able to recoup those costs. Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” includes a provision that reserves $12 billion to reimburse border security-related expenses the states have shouldered since Biden’s inauguration in 2021. 

That provision was added at the request of Texas’ congressional delegation. The Lone Star State has adopted an aggressive border hawk stance in the past few years, and spent more than $11 billion in border and immigration-related policies, including a law that empowered local police officers and judges to arrest and deport migrants.

In 2023, the year with the highest costs in the four-year period, Arizona set aside more than $589 million for border security initiatives. That money was appropriated while Ducey was still in office, and some of it was used to fund a shipping container barrier at the border — and then remove it when a federal court ruled it was illegally built. Hobbs eventually redirected the funds towards local law enforcement grants. 

The lion’s share, about $544 million, was given to the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs and was later used to fund programs like the Border Security Fund, which distributes grants to local law enforcement agencies to help pay for officer positions that work in drug interdiction or against human smuggling. 

Along with local funding initiatives, the state has also spent more than $49 million coordinating between local and federal officials to secure the border and $14 million in providing personnel support at international ports of entry. 

This isn’t the first time Arizona has asked the federal government to reimburse it for border-related expenses. In 2023, amid record-high immigration levels, Hobbs sent a letter to the Biden administration accusing it of failing to fulfill its obligations to secure the southern border and requesting that $512 million be paid back to the state for picking up the slack. 

That request was ignored.