Both ballot initiatives passed with the broad support of voters.
Two controversial ballot initiatives concerning illegal immigration and abortion easily passed at the ballot box on Nov. 5 with broad support from voters.
Proposition 314, a statutory amendment referred by the Arizona Legislature, prohibits illegal immigrants from entering the state directly from a foreign country at any location other than a lawful port of entry.
The law effectively empowers Arizona law enforcement officers to arrest illegal immigrants. It also bars illegal immigrants from knowingly submitting false documents to apply for public benefits or a job and makes it a class 2 felony for an adult to knowingly sell fentanyl that later causes the death of another person.
The proposition needed only a simple majority to pass and coasted to victory with 63 percent of the vote. Its success comes as Arizona has effectively become ground zero for the nation’s border crisis.
In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector in Arizona reported more than 463,000 encounters with illegal immigrants—the highest total among all nine sectors.
In August, U.S. Customs and Border Protection made its largest-ever singular seizure of fentanyl when it intercepted 4 million pills at the sector’s Lukeville port of entry.
A Noble Predictive Insights poll released in September had indicated widespread support for Proposition 314, with 63 percent of registered voters signaling their approval. It was also supported by majorities of Republicans (77 percent), independents (57 percent), and Democrats (52 percent) alike.
But Living United for Change in Arizona, an opponent of the measure, has expressed concerns that it might lead to “rampant racial profiling” and civil rights violations.
Abortion Amendment Passes
Arizona was also one of 10 states that voted on the issue of abortion this election.
In a 62–38 vote, the state approved a citizen-led initiative to establish a constitutional right to abortion through fetal viability, and when a “health care professional” deems it necessary to protect the mother’s life or health.
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