Phoenix — Today, Arizona State Senators voted to advance HCR 2060, an extreme, unconstitutional, and anti-immigrant ballot referral that would apply new state penalties to violations of federal immigration law. It will next be considered in the House.
If passed in both legislative bodies and approved by voters in November, HCR 2060 would pose serious threats to immigrants and citizens alike. The proposed law has no geographic limits for enforcement actions, age restrictions, or exemptions for sensitive locations like schools, hospitals, or places of worship. Furthermore, the proposal would grant civil immunity to local government officials and law enforcement for damages resulting from actions, including unlawful or unconstitutional actions, taken during enforcement of the proposed law. Consequently, the ballot referral could be easily weaponized against communities of color, much like Arizona’s infamous "show me your papers" law, SB 1070.
"HCR 2060 violates fundamental due process protections for immigrants and creates an entire state system of immigration enforcement impacting all Arizonans," said Noah Schramm, border policy strategist for the ACLU of Arizona. "This bill ignores key parts of federal law, stripping away basic safeguards that ensure people fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries have access to asylum. It opens the door to unlawful policing and invites racial profiling, threatening communities across the state."
In addition to disrupting the asylum process for individuals facing persecution or danger in their country of origin, HCR 2060 would require state officials to detain immigrants in county jails and state prisons. In cases where families with minor children are arrested, the state would also have to separate children from their parents or adult family members due to age and custody restrictions in carceral facilities. Finally, Arizona would incur enormous court and incarceration costs to enforce HCR 2060, with lower-end estimates falling in the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars per year.
The ACLU of Arizona is strongly opposed to HCR 2060 and will continue to closely monitor the advancement of this ballot referral at the state legislature.
