Arizona lawmakers plan to introduce another bill aimed at tightening the screws on immigration enforcement.
SB1570 would require counties to place immigration officers at polling centers, ballot drop boxes, and early voting sites across the state.
The state’s Senate Republican Caucus announced the pending bill earlier this week, and according to a senate agenda, the measure is up for discussion on Friday. Sen. Jake Hoffman, who’s set to sponsor the bill, said it would boost trust in election results.
“When voters see the rules applied fairly and consistently, confidence in the outcome follows,” Hoffman said in a statement.
Civil rights organizations, meanwhile, have decried the possibility of ICE agents at polling places, saying the practice would intimidate voters. In a recent national survey conducted by the University of California San Diego, 31% of Hispanic and Asian American respondents, along with 21% of Black respondents, said they were worried about being questioned by ICE at the polls, despite being U.S. citizens.
The bill also drew a rebuke from Attorney General Kris Mayes.
"Our state has a long history of running fair and secure elections, and we will not allow election deniers in the state legislature to change that,” Mayes said in a statement Thursday.
If Hoffman’s bill passed the Republican-majority state legislature, it would ultimately require the signature of Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs to become law.
Hobbs has not commented publicly on SB1570. However, she’s vetoed hundreds of bills from the Republican-controlled legislature: The Arizona Capitol Times tracked 390 vetoes during her first three years in office.
Acting ICE Director: ‘No reason’ for immigration agents at polls##
Also at odds with Hoffman’s prospective bill is testimony delivered last week by Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. During a line of questioning from Democratic U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Lyons said repeatedly that he saw “no reason” to deploy ICE agents to polling places.
Slotkin said she hoped Lyons would keep his word, particularly when discussing the matter with President Donald Trump.
“I hope in the privacy in that meeting, when that comes down, and the president feels like he’s going to lose the midterm elections, that you don’t buckle,” Slotkin said.
Earlier this month, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters she had not heard Trump talk about sending ICE agents to voting locations, though Leavitt declined to rule out the possibility.
