Immigration

By Karl Reiner

Passed in 2010, SB 1070 was Arizona's attempt to have local police become more involved in enforcing immigration laws. Although it added a burden on the police, the law generated a great deal of publicity regarding the state of affairs along Arizona's border. It gave fearful people something to think about, taking their minds off of the devastating effects of the Great Recession. Regrettably for Arizona, most of the publicity was highly unfavorable. As the political leadership in Phoenix flaunted its idiosyncratic bizarreness, Arizona became known as a hothouse of intolerance and/or a place where elected officials were too inept to understand the difference between federal and state policing responsibilities.

Arizona's actions antagonized the neighboring Mexican state of Sonora at the same time it brought heaps of unflattering publicity upon itself. All this was occurring at a time when federal border enforcement was on the upswing, the number of illegal borders crossers was dropping and trade with Mexico was increasing. It appeared that Arizona's goal was to freeze trade, encourage tourists to stay away and push up the unemployment rate. The effort to implement SB 1070 soon ran into legal problems as large parts of the law were swiftly negated by the courts. The legal bills mounted as flinty state officials continued to push implementation. In retrospect, the spending on SB 1070 legal fees might have been put to better use supporting the investigation of child protection cases.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A GOP candidate should understand that they are in trouble when even the GOP-friendly Arizona Capitol Times identifies you as the candidate who will not answer questions. One question dominates congressional race in southern Arizona:

So far, McSally’s campaign has mimicked her 2012 effort. The personable candidate isn’t quick to share her stance on issues beyond her own philosophical views.

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McSally has remained reluctant to take solid stances on current issues, most notably dodging questions about how she would have voted on spending bills that led to the government shutdown and then a compromise bill that ended the congressional stalemate in October.

A recent Rothenberg Political Report praised McSally, who “oozes confidence about her prospects,” but also noted she “did her best to bob and weave” when asked how she’d vote on the compromise to reopen the government.

It’s not the only interview in which McSally has avoided providing a solid answer.  She told the Arizona Capitol Times it isn’t her job to Monday-morning quarterback what’s happening in Washington, D.C.

“I’m not in Congress, so I’m not running a shadow congressional staff that’s sitting there and getting all the briefings that they have the privilege of having there, and I usually don’t like to weigh in on legislation I haven’t read,” McSally said.

She said southern Arizona voters are worried about other matters.

“They’re interested in understanding my character, and my philosophy on things and how I would come to decisions that I’ll make in the future,” she said.

Political observers say the cautious campaign style may not work to McSally’s advantage, particularly in a GOP primary field where other candidates may run to the right of her.

Republican voters in Tucson want to know how McSally and others would cast votes in Congress, even if it’s a hypothetical vote.

“Otherwise, how are we going to know who to vote for?” said Carolyn Cox, chairwoman of the Pima County Republican Party. “We’ve been very disappointed in all of our candidates, especially the Democrats, for voting for a bill they’ve never even read.”

By Karl Reiner

Despite the sour view held by some politicians in Phoenix, not everything on the Arizona-Sonora, Mexico border is dangerous. Arizona's ports of entry process about 22 million visitors a year. They travel and spend money in Arizona. Through September 2013, U.S. merchandise exports to Mexico totaled $167.4 billion. Arizona's exporters accounted for $5.2 billion. The expansion of Mariposa port of entry at Nogales, scheduled to be completed in late spring 2014, is stimulating development in the region. The work doubling the capacity of the port at Guaymas, Sonora will benefit Arizona's economy when completed in two years. Cooperation is increasing between local officials because they realize Arizona and Sonora have intersecting economic interests.

The shrewd Texans have a broader prospective. They study the effect of border wait time on trade. Along with security, the Texas legislature has an interest in international cargo and passenger traffic trends, problems and solutions. This attitude may partly explain why the volume of Texas exports to Mexico is 14 times larger than Arizona's. While approximately 400,000 undocumented migrants live in Arizona, about 1.7 million reside in Texas. The October 2013 unemployment rate stands at 8.2% in Arizona. Although Texas appears to be swamped by undocumented people, its unemployment rate is 6.2%. The correlation between the presence of illegal migrants and unemployment may be somewhat less than we have been led to believe.