XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.misc
Arizona Republicans are advancing a bill that would allow people to
legally kill someone accused of attempting to trespass or actively
trespassing on their property.
The big picture: The legislation, which is expected to be vetoed if it
reaches the state's Democratic governor, would legalize the murder of undocumented immigrants, who often have to cross ranches that sit on the state's border with Mexico.
State Rep. Justin Heap (R.) said the bill is intended to close a loophole
by which migrants have moved within the U.S., per the Arizona Mirror.
Context: George Alan Kelly, an Arizona rancher, was accused of killing a migrant, Gabriel Cuen Buitimea, walking through his 170-acre property last year, per the Arizona Republic.
His trial is set for March 21, per the AP.
What's inside: "Premises" is defined in the bill to mean any property or structure, "occupied or not."
Arizona law already allows the use of deadly force against home intruders
if deemed necessary for protection.
The bill expands the existing doctrine from a home intrusion to a home or property intrusion.
Our thought bubble, from Axios Phoenix's Jeremy Duda: If the bill is
passed by the state's legislature, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is expected
to veto it.
Hobbs flipped the state's governorship blue in 2022, but the GOP controls
its legislature.
Zoom out: Americans consider immigration the country's single most
important problem for the first time since 2019, according to recent
polling.
Nationally, infighting, blame-shifting and indecision have challenged the
Biden administration's border approach.
Go deeper: Arizona transports 26,000 asylum seekers under Hobbs
https://www.axios.com/2024/02/27/arizona-gop-bill-rancher-migrant-kill
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