PHOENIX—Arizona Speaker of the House Steve Montenegro (R-13) spoke with Cactus Politics about securing the border in conjunction with President Donald Trump, saying, "Communication is where it starts" and how Arizona has "been very proactive in what type of legislation we can pass."
"We need to make sure we are having the right communication. We are working closely with men like Tom Homan, the border czar. We are working closely with President Trump's domestic policy office. We want to make sure that we are partnering with them," Rep. Montenegro began.
After all, "Communication is where it starts," and he described the need for law enforcement at all levels are adequately supplied to aid federal agents in securing the border, "whether it is manpower, whether it is intelligence, data, communication, whatever they need to make sure we keep our community safe."
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We asked Rep. Montenegro if there was any legislation Arizona could pass to further the goal of border security, like Florida's recent slate of bills enhancing cooperation between state law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other measures to crack down on illegal immigration.
Montenegro replied, "We are always actively looking here in Arizona because we are a border state. For years, we have been very proactive in what type of legislation we can pass to make sure law enforcement can be working with federal agencies or federal entities have the right authority to work in conjunction with them and make sure we have secure borders."
For instance, Montenegro, who is of El Salvadorean decent, referred to Proposition 314, which, like Florida's recent bills, makes entering the border except via a legal port of entry a criminal offense.
"We want to make sure that we are giving our law enforcement agents the ability and the authority to do what they need to, and that passed significantly here at the ballot," Montenegro continued.
Another proposed piece of legislation for the ballot would be designating the Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, echoing President Trump's recent actions.
Governor Katie Hobbs (D-AZ), however, vetoed a similar bill in 2023, arguing the Arizona Department of Homeland Security (AZDOHS) had no such authority.
As a result, Montenegro said, "So what we are doing is, we send it to the ballot and ask the people again because once things are designated in the best way, law enforcement can use the tools, the resources, and the authorities they need to combat this scourge of human trafficking, of fentanyl trafficking, drug trafficking, child trafficking that we are experiencing in the world."
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