Capitol Media Services

PHOENIX — Arizonans are not going to get a chance to decide if they want to make being in this country illegally a violation of state law.

Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said Wednesday that he did not get the necessary signatures for his measure to expand who could be arrested on trespassing charges. Pearce said he did not have the money to hire paid circulators — the process used by other successful petition drives this year — to submit the more than 153,000 names legally required to put a change in law on the November ballot.

The same fate also befell a related measure that Pearce helped to craft. That would have asked voters to put firms that knowingly hire undocumented workers out of business.

But Don Goldwater, who was heading that campaign, said the failure to get it on the ballot is not a major loss. He said just the threat of the initiative was enough to convince state legislators not to loosen the provisions of an almost identical law they adopted last year despite complaints by businesses.

And Pearce said the loss of Goldwater’s proposal will not be a big deal if voters defeat a business-backed measure that did get enough signatures, one that would ease some of the restrictions of the law.

He said, though, Arizona still needs the kind of laws that the trespass initiative would have created.

Pearce said there’s one major reason to make illegal presence in this country a violation of state trespass laws: It would allow any police officer to make an arrest. He said there are some who believe — he is not among them — that only officers with special federal training have the right to detain suspected illegal immigrants.

He said the provision was sought by some border county sheriffs who wanted an option to detain border crossers while they investigate other crimes.

Pearce said under the current system, illegal immigrants are turned over to Customs and Border Protection officers and are deported almost immediately, meaning they are long gone by the time evidence turns up linking that person to a crime.

Pearce said the more important part of the initiative was designed to end what he calls “sanctuary policies” of some cities, where police departments have policies prohibiting officers from inquiring about the legal status of people they encounter. Some communities specifically bar officers from calling federal agents when they do learn someone is here illegally.

“As long as these policies restrict law enforcement from enforcing the law already in place, you will have another officer (Nick) Erfle killed,” he said, referring to a Phoenix police officer killed last year. The suspect is an illegal immigrant who was deported a year earlier but returned.

“These policies are responsible for the deaths and the maimings of police officers and citizens throughout the state of Arizona and must be removed,” Pearce said.

Pearce also said he sees nothing wrong about officers inquiring about someone’s legal status when they are stopped for routine traffic violations. He said there is nothing racist about that.

“It’s criminal profiling, it’s not racial profiling,” he said. “It’s recognizing the obvious.”

Pearce, a former sheriff’s deputy, said police know when “something’s wrong.” He said that can include providing a fake ID — or having no identification at all.

“You pursue that information until you know who they are,” he said. “It’s not rocket science.”

Pearce said if he is elected to the Senate he will try to have lawmakers put the measure directly on the 2010 ballot.

He said it makes no sense to have it handled as legislation as Gov. Janet Napolitano would veto it.