PHOENIX — Gov. Doug Ducey is brushing aside concerns that his call for a public vote for a ban on sanctuary cities will lead to the same fallout that Arizona faced a decade ago after it approved legislation targeting those not here legally.
In a sometimes testy exchange with reporters Thursday, the governor insisted that the two issues are different. Ducey bristled at questions about whether what promises to be a high-profile, multimonth debate of the issue leading up to the election could lead to the same kind of boycotts that resulted in losses of visitors and conventions.
“This is about sanctuary cities,” Ducey said. He said a constitutional amendment is necessary to prevent the kind of ballot measure last year in Tucson where residents voted on — and defeated — a proposal to limit cooperation of the city with federal immigration agencies.
But the request by Ducey of lawmakers to put the issue on the state’s November ballot already is provoking the same kind of discussions that occurred a decade ago, even though the Legislature has yet to formally approve the plan.
“For 10 years there’s been peace and tranquility,” immigration rights activist Sal Reza told Capitol Media Services on Thursday. “Then they go to put a ballot measure that’s going to divide the state.”
What it will do, Reza said, is fire up the “Republican right-wing base.”
“The governor wants to be buddy-buddy with Donald Trump on the one hand and throw meat to the base,” Reza said. “And he doesn’t think of the consequences.”
There are parallels between the 2010 law and what Ducey is pushing now.
That 2010 law requires police, when possible, to ask people their immigration status when they have been stopped for some other reason. It also forbids local communities from blocking their agencies and employees from refusing to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Ducey’s measure asks voters to take that second point, which already is law, and enshrine it into the Arizona Constitution. He said that’s necessary to preclude future votes like the one in Tucson.
“We don’t want sanctuary cities in Arizona. We’re not going to import bad ideas from California,” Ducey said, in a reference to the fact that some communities there have adopted such policies.
Ducey brushed aside any comparisons with the 2010 law. “You’re living in the past,” he said.
And the governor’s not worried.
“Our reputation’s never been better,” Ducey said. “Our relationship with Mexico’s never been stronger.”
Reza, however, said the governor would be wrong to think that will help Arizona weather any fallout from the debate on the sanctuary cities ballot measure.
Opposition to SB 1070 eventually ballooned into a broad boycott and lost conferences for the state.
It was only later that the Arizona business community realized the fallout — and came to the conclusion it should have taken a more active position in opposition.
Glenn Hamer, president of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Thursday that, given that history, “I would say it’s fair to say we need to be extra, extra careful.”
Asked if the chamber supports or opposes Ducey’s plan, Hamer responded: “We are watching this very, very, very closely.”
One version of what Ducey wants, sponsored by Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last week and is awaiting action by the full Senate. The House Judiciary Committee will take up the version sponsored by Rep. T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge, on Friday, Feb 21.
