Katie Hobbs Was For Open Borders Before She Was Against Them

The Arizona governor’s flip-flop is cover for her contribution to the southern border crisis

Originally published at American Greatness (Dec. 26, 2023)

With the U.S.-Mexico border completely overrun by illegal aliens, Chinese nationals, and potential Iranian terrorists, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) desperately wants voters to believe she’s cracking down on the crisis.

“I’m taking action to fix the migrant crisis where the federal government will not,” Hobbs blasted on X/Twitter, mobilizing the National Guard to assist law enforcement along the border with “fentanyl interdiction” and “human trafficking enforcement.” Not, you’ll note, to seal the border or finish construction of President Trump’s effective wall.

And that’s the point—it’s another ruse by the far Left to improve optics, not fix the problems created by the Democrat Party, and Arizonans will suffer the consequences.

Earlier this month, Hobbs bragged that she’d allocated $5 million to halt the illegal immigrant flood into Arizona. Then a local group discovered that Hobbs’ Office of Refugee Resettlement had reportedly funneled money to a resettlement group, Migration & Refugee Services, to fund, feed, clothe, and house illegal aliens in Tucson.

And in June, Hobbs vetoed a Republican bill which would’ve criminalized the use of electronic devices to aid human smuggling.

No Borders for Thee

Yet this is only the latest part of Hobbs’ nearly decade-long pattern of callous abuse of Arizona’s border.

Then-State Sen. Hobbs voted to defund Arizona’s Border Strike Force in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The drug law enforcement agency is part of the Department of Public Safety, which Gov. Hobbs now demands “increase operations along the State’s southern border to enforce [its] laws.”

On the 2022 campaign trail, Hobbs attacked Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s efforts to block the border with shipping containers and razor wire, calling it “an expensive political stunt.” (Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls later pointed out that the containers did work, “clos[ing] off the most active areas.”)

Asked if she would at least try to close the “massive gap” near Yuma, Hobbs deflected… by blaming Trump: “I think if a wall was the solution, then the wall would be done. That’s what Donald Trump ran on and he had the ability to do that when he was president.” Huh?

In a radio interview Hobbs tried to blame House Republicans for Biden’s open border mess—only to be called out by the host. “Nothing’s getting done,” he said. “Let’s be honest here, Secretary Hobbs.”

When asked if she’d visited the border, Hobbs said “yes.” When asked when, she stammered: “A few times in the last several months. I don’t know exactly when.”

Hobbs was endorsed by Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), radical open borders group that aims to defund the police and abolish the Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). LUCHA is bankrolled with millions of dollars from George Soros and the Arabella “dark money” network.

You may recall that LUCHA activists—one of them an illegal immigrant—harassed Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I–AZ) by following her into a bathroom in 2021, demanding she pass Biden’s $3.5 trillion social spending bill.

That didn’t bother Hobbs, who welcomed LUCHA fanatics to a campaign rally in Oct. 2022. “Getting hyped with . . . Katie Hobbs,” the group tweeted.

The reality is that there’s no difference between Hobbs’ and Biden’s border policies. Until Arizonans realize that—and vote accordingly—the crisis will only worsen.

Hayden Ludwig is Managing Editor of Restoration News and Research Director for Restoration of America

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