Arizona governor vetoes bill requiring local officials to help with federal immigration efforts

Source: AP

Updated 9:52 PM EDT, April 18, 2025


PHOENIX (AP) — Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs on Friday vetoed a Republican-backed bill intended to support the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown by requiring local and state officials in Arizona to cooperate with federal enforcement efforts.

Under the proposal, local and state officials couldn’t prohibit or restrict cooperation with federal immigration efforts or block the use of federal databases and grant funds related to immigration enforcement. It also would force cooperation on immigration detainers — requests from the federal government to hold onto people already in state custody until immigration authorities could pick them up.

“I will continue to work with the federal government on true border security, but we should not force state and local officials to take marching orders from Washington,” Hobbs said in her veto letter. Supporters say the measure is needed to ensure federal authorities can safely and more easily take custody of immigrants, rather than having to track them down later after they have already been released from state prisons or county jails.

Opponents say the state should leave immigration enforcement to the federal government and that the cooperation required in the bill would be expensive for local governments to carry out and would harm the cooperation local police get from people in immigrant communities.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/arizona-governor-hobbs-immigration-bill-61c5c825e8101d8d5783659d2211f4bd