NEWS

Arizona GOP lawmakers to quit privately funded border fence

Associated Press
The Arizona-Mexico border.

Arizona lawmakers who hoped to build miles of fencing along the border with Mexico using private money are pulling the plug on the project after nearly five years.

Republican backers of the 2011 legislation hoped to collect as much as $50 million in donations to build the fence. About $265,000 was collected.

Lawmakers, sheriffs and state department heads who serve on the Legislature’s border security advisory committee meet Monday to hear spending proposals for the money that was collected. They’ve asked sheriffs in Cochise, Pima, Yuma and Santa Cruz county to present plans for fencing or technology using the cash.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada appreciates the offer but says he won’t participate because it’s one-time money and there’s not enough cash to have an effect.

Valdez: Using the border fence cash no one wants

How this came about

The plan championed by Rep. Steve Smith originally called for collecting as much as $50 million to build a 15-foot fence at busy, yet-to-be-determined border-crossing points then erecting fences along miles of the state's 375-mile border that have no federal fences.

The effort began during the height of Arizona's battle against illegal immigration, before a backlash that left the GOP-led Legislature with no more appetite for measures targeting immigration.

Donations dried up less than six months after the state launched a website in 2011 to collect money for the project. The estimated $265,000 raised is well short of the $2.8 million needed to build the first mile of fencing.

What now

The Arizona Legislature's border security advisory committee, created by the Legislature in 2011 and tasked with making recommendations to the governor about how to handle the border, is deciding what to do with the money. The fence project had been one of its key goals.

The committee, which includes lawmakers, sheriff's and state department heads, has expressed interest in allocating the money to sheriffs toward border-security efforts.