Republicans desperate to keep immigrants from showing up at midterm polls and voting them out [View all]

ICE at the polls: Arizona Republicans push plan to require agents at all polling places

This week, the Arizona Senate will take up a proposal to force all 15 of the state’s counties to sign an agreement with ICE “to provide for a federal immigration law enforcement presence at each location within this state where ballots are cast or deposited.”

The Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee is slated to take up the strike-everything amendment to Senate Bill 1570 either Wednesday or Friday. (The committee has scheduled nearly 60 bills for hearings over the two meetings, but it’s unknown which measures will be considered on which day. This is the final week for legislative committees to hear bills.)

Even if it passes, the proposal by Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, seems to directly run afoul of federal law, which bars “any troops or armed men” who are part of “the civil, military, or naval service of the United States” from being deployed to polling locations. The only exception is if doing so is needed to “repel armed enemies of the United States.”

In Arizona, where nearly half of the population is nonwhite — including one-third of residents who are Latino — stationing immigration agents outside of polling places where they could detain anyone who showed up to vote would likely result in some voters opting not to cast a ballot.

read: https://azmirror.com/briefs/ice-at-the-polls-arizona-republicans-push-plan-to-require-agents-at-all-polling-places/


‘Racist’ GOP bill would put ICE agents at every voting location
The bill applies only to the 2026 general election.

That’s the gist of a bill being pushed by Republican state Sen. Wendy Rogers, a notorious far-right lawmaker who was once censured by her own party for speaking at a white nationalist conference. Rogers has crafted a strike-everything amendment — that’s when a bill’s text is scrapped and replaced by something new — to a bill previously sponsored by fellow far-right state Sen. Jake Hoffman. Rogers’ version of Senate Bill 1570 would force county elections officials to strike agreements with federal immigration authorities to place immigration agents at every voting location, including early voting sites and ballot dropboxes.

The text of the bill requires that county boards of supervisors and county recorders, which share election duties in much of the state, “enter into a written agreement with a federal immigration law enforcement agency to provide for a federal immigration law enforcement presence at each location within this state where ballots are cast or deposited.” ICE agents may “observe election activities and perform lawful duties within the scope of their federal authority,” but cannot “interfere with the casting or depositing of ballots except as otherwise authorized by law.” They also could not “question, detain or arrest a voter solely for the purpose of determining voter eligibility.”

In Arizona, where nearly half of the population is nonwhite — including one-third of residents who are Latino — stationing immigration agents outside of polling places where they could detain anyone who showed up to vote would likely result in some voters opting not to cast a ballot.

Several voting rights advocates and Democrats think the amendment’s subtext is pretty clear: This law would allow the federal government to intimidate Arizona voters.

“It’s deeply disturbing,” said Democratic state Sen. Analise Ortiz. “It’s racist and it’s intended to intimidate people from turning out to vote.”

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-bill-ice-agents-at-every-voting-location-40646275/

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