Hobbs vetoes GOP bills that would force cooperation with ICE

Gov. Katie Hobbs once again thwarted Republican efforts to facilitate mass deportations in Arizona, vetoing legislation that would have made it easier for federal immigration agents to arrest people while at the same time blocking elected officials from preventing discriminatory actions. 

Late Friday, the Democrat wielded her veto stamp to reject nearly two dozen proposals, including Senate Bill 1610 and House Bill 2099, which sought to force county jails to share with ICE the personal information of people arrested for nonviolent crimes such as shoplifting and require Arizona’s governor, attorney general and every city and town to cooperate with the federal government on immigration enforcement actions — even if that meant violating the U.S. Constitution. 

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, the GOP majority in the Arizona legislature has tried to boost his mass deportation campaign by seeking to preemptively block any opposition that might arise anywhere in the state. That tactic has met with disapproval from Hobbs, who has long advocated for local control and deferred to local governments and law enforcement agencies on how best to deal with border security issues. 

In her veto letter for HB2099, Hobbs chastised GOP lawmakers for attempting to handcuff Arizona’s elected leaders, and reminded them that their responsibility is to defend the country’s and state’s constitutions, not hand over the decision-making to federal officials. 

“When I assumed the role of Governor, I pledged to uphold both the U.S. Constitution and the Arizona Constitution, as did each of you,” she wrote. “Arizonans, not Washington, D.C. politicians, must decide what’s best for Arizona.”

Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, have both been vocal critics of Trump’s mass deportation promise and his administration’s continued disregard for court directives or due process protections. Hobbs has repeatedly vetoed legislation intended to increase the degree to which Arizona is involved with federal immigration enforcement actions and Mayes has sued Trump over his bid to end birthright citizenship and warned that she would actively oppose efforts to set up family detention facilities in the state. 

In response to the duo’s resistance, Rep. Teresa Martinez pushed to force their cooperation. The bill immediately prompted outrage when the Republican from Casa Grande conceded that entangling the state with federal immigration authorities would result in the “collateral” deportations of people’s relatives. 

“‘But what about Nana? I’ve heard that. ‘Y abuela? What happens to abuela?’” she said, during a committee hearing on Jan. 29, using the Spanish word for grandma and affecting a worried inflection before concluding: “Yes, there will be, sadly, some collateral damage, some collateral deportations.” 

Despite assurances from the Trump administration and its allies that the focus is on deporting people with violent criminal convictions, the actual goal appears to be expelling as many people as possible, with little regard for their criminal history or immigration status. There have been multiple cases of asylum seekers and green card applicants attending routine immigration check-ins and interviews only to be detained. Recently, three children who are U.S. citizen were deported. In Arizona, an Iraq War veteran was placed under deportation proceedings even though federal officials assured him he wasn’t at risk of removal more than a decade ago. And 90% of the nearly 300 Venezuelans deported to a high security prison labor camp in El Salvador —  who the Trump administration has repeatedly promoted as the face of its purported effort to expel gang members — have no criminal record in the U.S. Many of them were deported and imprisoned simply because they have tattoos that ICE claimed are gang-related. 

In her veto explanation, Hobbs said she would cooperate with the federal government on “true border security” initiatives, but said that complete obeisance is the wrong move. 

“We should not force state officials to take marching orders from Washington, D.C.,” she wrote.

A bid to mandate that county detention center officials across the state share the personal information of people with ICE was also swiftly vetoed. SB1610 would have required county jail officials, like sheriff’s deputies, to send, on a daily basis, the name, address, date of birth, gender and social security number of every person in custody who was accused of burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting and any other offense that results in bodily injury or death to ICE agents even if they have not been convicted. Currently, that information is often gathered by ICE agents when requesting a 48-hour detainer, also called an ICE hold, for people federal officials suspect are eligible for deportation. 

The new legislation would have eliminated the need for any written request, making it vastly easier for ICE officials to take people into custody and initiate removal proceedings. Critics opposed the bill because the existing level of cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement officials already leads to cases of people who aren’t eligible for deportation being forced to endure prolonged imprisonment. Earlier this month, a U.S. citizen from Georgia was held in jail overnight even after his mother showed a Florida judge his birth certificate. 

Immigrant rights advocates warned that it would only result in racial profiling. Alejandra Gomez, the executive director of Living United for Change in Arizona, argued, in a written statement, that the federal government’s blatant disregard for due process should make lawmakers reconsider volunteering their assistance.

“SB 1610 is not just an attack on immigrants—it’s an attack on the due process rights of all Arizonans,” she said. “This bill moves us dangerously closer to a system where being suspected of wrongdoing based on appearance, accent, or last name is enough to end up detained, deported, or disappeared—without a fair hearing, without legal protections, and without justice.”

Hobbs, in her veto letter, added that Arizona law already bans so-called “sanctuary cities,” which prohibit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Local elected officials and law enforcement agencies have the option to share information with ICE, and many of them do, readily complying with ICE detainers despite the risk of incurring lawsuits for erroneously issued detainers. Hobbs said the new mandate in SB1610 is unnecessary, and would instead overburden local law enforcement.

Also rejected on Friday were proposals that, among others, would have barred trans people from amending their birth certificates to reflect their gender identity; stripped state funding from colleges with courses on diversity, equity and inclusion; awarded parents $2,500 if they won a lawsuit accusing government or school officials of infringing on their rights to raise their children how they believe is best; incurred new burdensome requirements for Arizonans to obtain unemployment benefits; and fined local officials $5,000 for passing ordinances restricting firearms. On the same day, Hobbs approved almost three dozen bills, including ones to set up a maternal mortality review program to investigate the causes and preventability of pregnancy-related deaths; modify state drivers licenses to add an identifying marker for Native American Arizonans; and direct state medical schools to clearly post admissions information on their websites.