Democratic Party Governor of Arizona Katie Hobbs told reporters last week that she would continue the program to bus immigrants out of state under her Republican predecessor, Doug Ducey, but in a more humane and efficient way. .
Hobbes defended her decision to keep the program on Tuesday, saying: Arizona Sun Her administration will focus on ensuring that the state’s continued payments for immigrant travel expenses are “efficient and humane.”
On November 5, 2022, then-Arizona Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs campaigned at the Carpenters Local Union 1912 headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona.
(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“We just wanted to make sure that this issue was addressed, and as we have said many times in our campaign, in a way that maximizes the use of taxpayer resources and is not a political stunt,” Hobbes said. told the newspaper.
government at the time.Ducey started bus immigration I left Arizona in May. The program was later expanded to include the option of charter air travel on 737s, according to a state contract signed Jan. 14.
During Ducey’s tenure, more than 3,000 people were bussed from the Yuma, Arizona area to the nation’s capital at a total cost of over $7 million. A Republican lawmaker earmarked his $15 million for the program last year. The border suffered a historic crisis during the Biden presidency, breaking records for illegal passage month after month.
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Hobbes, who took office earlier this month, told reporters last week: [that] It supports the local community. ”
“If we’re spending money to put people on buses, why not take them to their final destination?” she said.
Shipping containers and vehicle barriers line the US-Mexico border at the Coronado National Memorial in Cochise County, Arizona, USA, Sunday, December 11, 2022.
(Rebecca Noble/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Hobbes told Arizona Republic that her focus would be different from the Republican governor’s actions Greg AbbottRon DeSantis of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida transferred immigrants to Democratic-run cities as an outcry for the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border.
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“We are interested in focusing on the humanitarian side of this, putting people on the bus as a political stunt, and providing no help or solutions to real problems on Martha’s Vineyard or anywhere else. No,” Hobbes said. .
Democratic Mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, last year declared a public emergency related to the bus movement of immigrants into the capital. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, also a Democrat, recently visited the border in El Paso, Texas, declaring that no more places would accept illegal immigrants. Adams called on the federal government to resolve the crisis.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
