Katie Hobbs agrees to fund 50 state troopers for immigration enforcement

Gov. Katie Hobbs struck a budget deal with Arizona Republicans that hires 100 new state troopers, 50 of which will be dedicated to “immigration enforcement and border security,” though the governor’s office said they won’t be aiding federal agents enforcing immigration laws.

Instead, a spokesman for Hobbs said, the new troopers will be working to combat drug trafficking. 

The $18.3 billion budget deal has been months in the making as lawmakers worked to avoid the June 30 deadline that would lead to a government shutdown in Arizona. The plan, which was made public Tuesday afternoon, includes $1.45 billion in tax cuts that will codify federal changes made by President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” 

It also includes $14.2 million for the hiring of 100 Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers — half of which are “to be used for immigration enforcement and border security” assisting the department’s Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission, known as GIITEM. 

The budget says the 50 troopers will help GIITEM with four key areas:

• Enforcing all federal laws relating to “illegal aliens and arresting illegal aliens” 
• Responding to or assisting any county sheriff or attorney investigating “complaints of employment of illegal aliens” 
• Enforcing Arizona’s SB1070 law and investigating identity theft “in the context of hiring illegal aliens and the unlawful entry into this country” 
• “Taking strict enforcement action” of federal immigration laws 

But that doesn’t mean the operation is going to assist Trump’s mass deportation agenda, gubernatorial spokesman Christian Slater said in a statement.

“Repeating what the governor has said time and time again: the State of Arizona has not, and will not, participate in or fund mass deportations, indiscriminate round-ups of immigrants and violations of constitutional rights,” he said. “Under this administration, GIITEM will be used by local law enforcement to stop drug trafficking, human smuggling and cartel operations in Arizona. It will be laser-focused on drug interdiction operations, not immigration enforcement.”

And last year, DPS Director Col. Jeffrey Glover said that immigration is a federal responsibility to enforce, not the state’s.

“Unless a state crime has been committed that falls under AZDPS jurisdiction, our personnel — including GIITEM units — do not participate in immigration enforcement operations,” he said, adding that state troopers would “notify federal partners” as warranted if their investigations uncover someone in the U.S. unlawfully.

The GIITEM provisions and funding have been included in budgets since 2016.

GIITEM is set to receive more than $26 million in total, with $14.2 million of that for the new troopers. The budget also allocates $1.2 million from that fund to be placed in a separate subaccount that GIITEM can use to dole out funds to select sheriffs for border security related expenses. 

Immigrant advocacy group Living United for Change in Arizona panned the spending, but said it’s important to note both that the overall funding for GIITEM — which it generally opposes — did not increase over last year and that the budget trims $5 million from the Local Border Support Fund.

“That reduction matters, and it’s a step in the right direction, but our position remains clear: Arizona should not be spending state dollars on immigration enforcement, helping an authoritarian federal government expand its vicious campaign of ICE enforcement, deportation and family separation,” LUCHA spokesman César Fierros told the Arizona Mirror. “Every dollar that goes toward programs like GITEM is a dollar not going toward housing, healthcare, food assistance, heat relief or the services families urgently need.”

And that isn’t the only border security fund getting extra money from the state budget this year. 

The budget allocates $13.2 million for “local border support,” which “shall be used to fund local law enforcement officer positions for border drug interdiction to deter and apprehend any individuals who are charged with drug trafficking, human smuggling, illegal immigration and other border-related crimes.” 

That money can also be used for “grants to cities, towns and counties for costs associated with prosecuting and detaining individuals who are charged with drug trafficking, human smuggling, illegal immigration and other border-related crimes.” 

The budget also says that the department “may fund all capital-related equipment.” 

Border security related funds have been used by local police departments to purchase high-tech surveillance equipment, such as the Tucson Police Department’s purchase of a social media surveillance tool that has also been used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.