My Take on SB 1421: Cartoonish Self Defeat

As your candidate for State Senate here in Southeast Arizona, I want to be clear about where I stand on a new bill, SB 1421. This bill is being pushed by politicians in Phoenix who seem more focused on scoring political points than on actually helping our communities. In my opinion, it's poorly written and shows a real misunderstanding of both the law and the people who live here.

This bill tries to make life so hard for undocumented immigrants that they will be forced to leave Arizona. It does this by trying to stop them from opening bank accounts or using basic financial services.

Here's why I oppose it:

1. It makes our communities less safe.

When people are pushed into the shadows and can't use banks, they are forced to keep their money at home or only deal in cash. This creates a hidden world that is hard for law enforcement to see. It allows criminals and traffickers to take advantage of vulnerable people. If we want to find and stop real criminals, we need people to feel safe enough to talk to law enforcement. Pushing people further away does the opposite.

2. The state is trying to do a job it doesn't have the power to do.

Banks and international money transfers are regulated by the federal government, not the state. This bill even tries to force companies like Western Union to check someone's citizenship before they can send money. But here's the problem: a federal law called the Privacy Act of 1974 prevents the state from even accessing those citizenship databases. This means the bill is asking for something that is impossible to do. It would make everyday tasks a huge mess for everyone. Good leaders know better than to make and enforce rules using systems they don't control.

3. It's a waste of our tax dollars.

We already send a lot of our money to the federal government to handle immigration. It's ridiculous that Arizona politicians want to take even more of our local tax dollars to pass laws they don't understand and can't enforce. We shouldn't be paying twice for the same problem. And here's the irony: this bill targets people using ITIN numbers—which means they're documented and paying taxes. I guess we just don't want their money.

4. It won't actually accomplish anything.

Former convicts in Arizona often can't use financial services either because they're evading garnishment or have been cut off by banks for their crimes. So what do they do? They work for cash under the table. They have friends who will move money for them when needed. If citizens who are documented and known by the system can evade these restrictions, there's very little this bill can do to stop undocumented people the system doesn't even know about.

5. It hurts Arizona border communities.

Shooting Arizona businesses in the knee by making it harder for people to buy their goods and provide them revenue is a sure sign this is just culture war politics—cheerleading for Washington's agenda. How many Arizonans' livelihoods are we going to damage to push the idea that our neighbors are our enemies over a civil administrative infraction?

What I Believe We Should Do Instead

If we are truly worried about safety and immigration in our state—and we should be—we need a smarter approach.

- Build trust, not fear. We need to work with immigrant communities so they feel safe cooperating with law enforcement. That's how we identify the real threats, like traffickers, who harm people.

- Be a facilitator, not a punisher. We should create honest programs that help law-abiding, undocumented people come out of the shadows and build better partnerships with federal systems. We need to make it safe for them to engage with our government and get on a path to legal status. That's how you actually get more documented immigrants.

- Remember who we are. Immigrants are our neighbors. They are part of our community here in Southeast Arizona. They are our constituents—even if they cannot vote for us—and their rights are protected by the U.S. Constitution. Above all, they are people, and we should treat them with the dignity they deserve.

We have real issues to solve in this state. Wasting time on unworkable, harmful bills like SB 1421 isn't leadership—it's a political game to engineer election slogans. We can do better than bills that amount to Wile E. Coyote levels of malicious self defeat. I'm running to do better for all of us.