Flashing lights on top of a police car.
Danyelle Khmara: Prop 314 would make it a state crime to enter Arizona from Mexico between ports of entry. The law would require local law enforcement to arrest these migrants, and state judges to deport some of them.
Clea McCaa: If you support our local law enforcement, you cannot support this proposition. You cannot support this bill.
DK: That’s Clea McCaa, the mayor of Sierra Vista. McCaa is a Democrat, and like a lot of elected officials in border communities, he often supports enhanced border security. But he says if 314 passes, the Sierra Vista police would need to hire nine new officers and more administrative staff.
CM: So we just, we just don't have the funding for that. And also this law could take officers off the street where they're needed for traffic accidents, domestic violence calls, burglaries and other issues that are directly related to local law enforcement duties. It will divert us from our mission of protecting and serving our citizens.
DK: The Grand Canyon Institute found the measure would cost the state about $325 million annually, with more than half of that for enforcing the part of the law that criminalizes entering the country undocumented — already a federal crime.
The director of the state Department of Corrections, estimates it would cost his department an additional $252 million over five years.
But despite these cost concerns, there are signs that the measure will likely pass. A recent poll showed 63% of registered-voter respondents saying they would support the border-security measure.
Douglas Mayor Donald Huish, a Republican, agrees with Mayor McCaa that it would place a financial burden on small border communities, and said that regardless of funding, they wouldn’t even be able to fill the needed law enforcement positions anyway.
Donald Huish: We have funded positions in our organization that are not being filled due to just lack of applicants. And I hear that from other police departments also.
DK: A police officer shortage is an issue nationwide.
DH: We're willing to help, but we don't want to take the lead. We would much rather have the federal government take care of our borders.
DK: In fact, the federal government is required to take care of the border. Courts have said that state and local governments cannot set standards for who can come into the country and how long they can stay.
And when states have waded into immigration law in the past, courts have ruled that was illegal not only because it conflicted with federal law, as with Arizona’s 2010 regulation SB1070, but also that it violated civil rights, the effects of which are still being felt.
Jose Patiño: It was a very scary time.
DK: That’s Jose Patiño.
JP: You didn't know what would happen if you were driving to the movies, downtown AMC, or if you're — I was going to school, sometimes, I was coming back, maybe 9, 10 or 11 p.m., studying, and then I would get pulled over.
DK: He was in college at Arizona State University when SB1070 was passed. He had lived in Phoenix since he was 6, but at the time, he was undocumented. The year SB1070 passed, he started getting pulled over. He began carrying his diploma, his homework, anything to show he was a member of the community because he was afraid of being deported.
JP: That was the biggest worry. I knew individuals who were also college students who have been pulled over and they'd been deported. So I didn't feel protected at all.
DK: Patiño eventually became a DACA recipient. He finished his masters in education and is now vice president of education and external affairs with the nonprofit Aliento, where he works with young people in mixed immigration-status families.
JP: So many of the students … have stories of family separation that they suffered during the 1070 years. And it's something that doesn't go away. You're always gonna have this experience and this fear.
DK: Patiño predicts Proposition 314 would bring back policies that have been shown not to work, and he’d like to see new strategies to solve issues the state is facing.
I’m DK, AZPM News.
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