Democratic Arizona Gov. Kathy Hobbs defends decision to keep smuggling migrants out of state

Democratic Arizona Gov. Kathy Hobbs told reporters last week that she will continue her Republican predecessor Doug Ducey’s program to bus migrants out of the state, but in a more humane and efficient way.

On Tuesday, Hobbs defended her decision to keep the program, telling The Arizona Sun that her administration will focus on ensuring the state continues to pay for migrants’ travel “efficiently and humanely.”

Then-Arizona Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs holds a campaign event at the 1912 Local Carpenters Union headquarters on November 5, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona.
(Kevin Ditch/Getty Images)

“We just wanted to make sure we were tackling this issue, and as I’ve said many times during the campaign, in a way that makes the best use of taxpayer resources and not as a political stunt,” Hobbs told reporters. newspaper.

Then-Governor Ducey began taking migrants out of Arizona back in May. The program was later expanded to include the possibility of charter flights aboard the 737 aircraft, in accordance with a government contract signed on January 14.

During Ducey’s tenure, more than 3,000 people were bussed from the Yuma, Arizona area to the nation’s capital at a cost of more than $7 million. Last year, Republican lawmakers gave $15 million to the program. Under President Biden, the border has experienced a historic crisis, with records breaking month after month for illegal border crossings.

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Hobbs, who took office earlier this month, told reporters last week: “We need to study this practice and make sure it works. [that] it’s what keeps local communities alive.”

“If we’re spending money on buses, why not just get them to their final destination?” she said.

Shipping containers and vehicle barriers at the US-Mexico border at the Coronado National Memorial in Cochise County, Arizona, USA on Sunday, December 11, 2022.
(Rebecca Noble/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Hobbs told The Arizona Republic that her focus will be different from the actions of Republican governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida, who both transported migrants to Democratic-run cities, as a rebuke to the Biden administration over the southern border. .

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“We’re interested in focusing on the humanitarian aspects of this and just putting people on a bus as a political stunt and sending them to Martha’s Vineyard or wherever they go doesn’t provide any help or any solution to the real problem.” , Hobbs said. .

Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a state of emergency over the delivery of migrants to the nation’s capital last year. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, also a Democrat, recently visited the border in El Paso, Texas, and said there was no longer room for illegal migrants in the city. Adams urged the federal government to resolve the crisis.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.