Senate Elections Committee Pushes Through Bills Attempting to Strengthen Arizona’s Elections

The Arizona State Senate Committee on Elections, chaired by Sen. Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff), convened Monday to discuss several proposed Senate Bills (SB) to strengthen Arizona’s Elections. One of those, SB 1265, sponsored by Sen. Anthony Kern (R-Glendale), presumptively restricts the implementation of a ranked choice voting (RCV) system in Arizona.

“To me, there enough questions out there, as you guys [the committee] have probably heard for the last three or four hours, on our current elections system without muddying the waters even more with a ranked choice voting,” said Kern while speaking at the meeting.

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Arizona Representative Presses Secretary Mayorkas for Allowing Illegal Immigrants to Fly on Commercial Airplanes Without Proper ID

Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) recently pressed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and demanded answers regarding the department allowing illegal immigrants to fly on commercial airplanes without presenting acceptable identification.

“President Biden’s DHS is failing to adhere to its mission of ‘safeguard[ing] the American people, our homeland, and our values,'” Biggs said in a press release. “Transporting potentially tens of thousands of lawbreakers throughout the country—with virtually unknown backgrounds—is a national security risk and defies the recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission. It also incentivizes more illegal immigration to our country at a time when the border has already passed its breaking point.”

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Senator Bill Hagerty Co-sponsors Bill That Would Prevent Illegal Immigrants from Using Arrest Warrants as TSA ID

On Wednesday, a group of Senate Republicans introduced the Strengthening Enforcement to Curtail Unlawful, Risky Entrance to Flights Act, or SECURE Flights Act of 2022.

The bill, if passed, would prevent the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) from allowing illegal aliens to use immigration enforcement documents, such as arrest warrants, as identification when boarding commercial flights, according to a press release by one of the bill’s authors – Senator Jim Risch (R-ID).

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Arizona Attorney General Asks Mayorkas to Stop Letting Illegal Migrants Travel Through U.S. Airports Over Policy Allowing Them to Use Arrest Warrants as IDs

Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Jan. 27 demanding that he stop allowing illegal migrants to travel through U.S. airports over a TSA policy permitting them to use arrest warrants as identification.

“Until there is a federal commitment to securing the border and enforcing existing laws, our office requests that you prohibit travel through U.S. airports by any migrant that is illegally here,” Brnovich wrote.

“It is an affront to the most basic common sense to allow anyone to use an ‘arrest warrant’ as acceptable identification to pass through government security,” he said.

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Republican Lawmakers Demand Answers from Mayorkas Regarding DHS Documents TSA Allows Migrants to Use as Identification

Republican lawmakers have demanded the Biden administration answer questions regarding alternate forms of identification the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says it accepts from migrants traveling throughout the country.

Republican Texas Rep. Lance Gooden, along with 21 other Republican lawmakers, sent a letter Wednesday to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas raising concerns over a number of DHS documents migrants can use as identification, including certain arrest warrants, and the methods through which they are vetted.

The letter, exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, also seeks information on how border patrol agents and others are able to verify a migrant’s identity when issuing the documents in the first place.

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Arrest Warrants Count as ID for Migrants at Airport Security, TSA Says

Transportation Security Administration agent

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) disclosed to a congressional office that migrants flying without proper identification can use an arrest warrant as an alternate form of identification when presenting to airport security, according to a letter the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively obtained.

Responding to Republican Texas Rep. Lance Gooden’s Dec. 15 inquiry about migrants flying across the country, TSA Administrator David Pekoske explained that certain Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents may be considered acceptable forms of alternate identification for non-citizens, including a “Warrant for Arrest of Alien” and a “Warrant of Removal/Deportation.”

“TSA’s response confirms the Biden Administration is knowingly putting our national security at risk,” Gooden told the DCNF. “Unknown and unvetted immigrants shouldn’t even be in the country, much less flying without proper identification.”

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Some Latinos Worry Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine Will Affect Their Immigration Status, Poll Shows

Three people wearing masks, one focused on center

Some Latino adults are concerned to get a COVID-19 vaccine because they might have to provide identification or are worried it could affect their immigration status, according to a poll released Thursday.

Of the total number of unvaccinated Latino adults who were polled, 39% said they were concerned about potential requirements to provide a government-issued ID or Social Security number to be vaccinated, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation Vaccine Monitor poll. And 35% of respondents expressed concerns that receiving the vaccine could negatively impact their own or a relative’s immigration status.

“Among unvaccinated Hispanic adults, those who are potentially undocumented, those without health insurance, and those with lower household incomes are more likely to express potential access-related barriers or immigration-related concerns to vaccination,” according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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