Arizona seeks $599 million to pay for illegal immigration

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(The Center Square) - Arizona legislative leaders sent a letter to the Trump administration seeking reimbursement for border security costs. 

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, and House Speaker Steve Montenegro, R-Surprise, requested $599 million in their letter to get back the money the state spent on southern border security during the Biden administration. 

Arizona spent this money through the Border Security Fund, which was created in 2021 and 2022, according to the state Senate GOP caucus press release. Additionally, Arizona’s annual budgets from 2021 to 2025 gave the Arizona Department of Public Safety and local sheriffs $145 million for border-related enforcement. 

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act authorized $10 billion for the costs states absorbed for border security during the Biden administration. 

“In all our years serving the people of Arizona, never have we seen such an abject failure of the federal government in protecting its citizens on the southern border as we did during the past four years under the Biden administration,” last week's letter said.

The Arizona GOP leaders wrote they wanted to use the requested money to provide “tax relief for Arizonans.”

“Each year, Arizona updates its income tax code to changes made by the President and Congress,” the letter said. “This upcoming year, the Legislature is interested in conforming to those tax changes to the greatest extent possible.”

Petersen told The Center Square that this legislative action on tax changes could cost Arizona “several hundred million dollars." 

Furthermore, he said federal money from the reimbursement would be invested in public safety and transportation. 

During the Biden administration, Arizona spent a significant amount of money on uncompensated medical care and law enforcement programs, the Senate president said. 

Petersen said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not provided an exact timeline on when the state will get its money, but he added the state expects to hear back “within a few months.”

He noted the federal funds are available through fiscal year 2029.

Arizona prefers the Department of Homeland Security send the money in one sum rather than in multiple payments, Petersen told The Center Square.

According to Petersen, Arizona is working alone and not with other border states on reimbursement efforts. He added he thinks border states will receive a “majority of the funds,” which he called “appropriate.”

When Arizona does receive its money, it will be deposited into the state’s general fund, Petersen said. He called that the most “accountable way” to handle the money and noted it will allow the public the ability to give its input about the reimbursement.

He said the Republican-led Legislature will have “full oversight and control” over the money.  

As for the current state of the southern border, Petersen called it “the most secure it's ever been.”

He added that the difference between the Biden administration and the Trump administration’s border policies is “night and day.”

To illustrate, with Joe Biden as president, encounters of illegal immigrants at the southern border in July 2024 stood at 104,000. However, as of this July, the number decreased to 7,832, according to Border Patrol data, under President Donald Trump. 

This represents a 92.5% decrease in the number of foreign nationals encountered at the southern border.  

“ We didn't need a new law; we just needed a new president," Petersen said. "And that is the difference of what we're seeing between Republican leadership and Democrat leadership on a lot of the issues that deal with crime."