PHOENIX — A bill that would require Arizona agencies and local governments to cooperate with federal immigration authorities is headed to the governor's desk.
Senate Bill 1164, also known as the Arizona ICE Act, passed the Arizona House along party lines during an hourlong vote on April 10.
SB 1164 has two main provisions:
- Requiring law enforcement to hold crime suspects who have federal immigration detainers.
- Prohibiting state agencies, counties, cities and towns from enacting or enforcing policies that obstruct the enforcement of immigration laws.
The bill’s sponsor, State Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican who represents Legislative District 14, has told ABC15 the measure is needed to ensure Arizona collaborates with the president’s efforts to remove undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes, adding that it’s “really a matter of public safety.”
Hobbs, who is expected to veto the measure, has said the bill isn’t necessary.
“It is routine for law enforcement agencies to cooperate, and that’s been happening,” she said in February.
Bills passed by the Legislature are hand-delivered to the governor’s desk, usually the next day. But they generally aren’t delivered on Fridays, so the Governor’s Office said it expects to see the Arizona ICE Act next week.
Hobbs then will have five days to act on the legislation. Saturdays count, according to the Arizona Constitution, but not Sundays.
“If the governor does nothing, then the bill becomes law without her signature,” lobbyist and former state lawmaker Stan Barnes said. “That happens pretty rarely.”
Lawmakers have the power to override a veto, but that seems unlikely in this case. A two-thirds majority would be needed, and every single Democrat in the narrowly divided Legislature voted against SB 1164.
What the Arizona ICE Act says about immigration detainers
In an interview with ABC15 in February, Petersen said he worked with the sheriffs on the bill, saying “the majority” support SB 1164.
When asked about concerns that the bill could make immigrant communities fearful, Petersen said the measure doesn’t involve law enforcement going into communities to make arrests.
“It’s just simply making sure that someone who has committed a state crime will who is an illegal immigrant will be deported by ICE,” he said. “There will be no obstruction from stopping ICE, from deporting an illegal immigrant who is committing state crimes.”
Under the bill, people with immigration detainers would be held for up to 48 hours for ICE. It’s safer for law enforcement to pick up people with holds at the jail or prison instead of in the community, Petersen said.
The federal government reimburses the costs of the extra detention, so the new requirement should not incur additional costs for Arizona, Petersen said.
The bill also allows the state attorney general to enforce the cooperation provision.
The original draft of the bill would have required law enforcement agencies to sign formal agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but that provision was removed during the panel hearing.
Currently, the Arizona Department of Corrections, Mesa Police Department, and sheriff’s offices in La Paz, Pinal and Yavapai counties have such agreements with ICE.
Arizona ICE Act draws protesters
Demonstrators rallied outside against the Trump administration in February while a Senate panel advanced the bill in a party-line vote back in February.
State Sen. Catherine Miranda, the ranking Democrat on Senate Military Affairs and Border Security panel, said she was concerned that the requirement to cooperate with ICE could lead to racial profiling and questioned Petersen about language in the bill that says local law enforcement should “use its best efforts to support the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
“‘Use your best efforts to work with law enforcement.’ That's a self-evident statement,” Petersen said, adding that “most people understand what that means.”
That language was later removed from the bill.
Miranda, D-District 11, who along with the other two Democrats on the panel voted to not advance the bill, said SB 1164 would make communities less safe.
“There will be reduced reporting of violent crimes by vulnerable communities because they won’t act as witnesses out of fear of deportation,” she said, adding that the cooperation requirement could also lead to increased response times for unstaffed police departments.
Other immigration bills at the Arizona Legislature
Lawmakers also considered several other immigration-related bills this legislative session.
House Bill 2099 would require the governor and attorney general to “enforce, administer and cooperate” with federal immigration enforcement. Senate Bill 1294 would lease the Marana Prison, which has been empty since 2023, to the U.S. government for $1 per year to house people being held on immigration violations.
And Democrats have proposed the Immigrant Trust Act to protect people without legal status who are living in Arizona, but Senate Bill 1362 and its mirror, House Bill 2807, did not get committee hearings in the Republican-led Legislature.
