“This action by the federal government demonstrates a total disregard for the potentially dangerous situation that these children are being put in,” said Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin, “and a willful disregard of basic protocols that would have involved notifying someone in Arizona about these transfers.”
Lawmakers are now urging Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to cease and desist the transfer of these children. In a letter by one county attorney it is argued that placing children in harm’s way, which these transfers may amount to, could constitute felony child abuse under Arizona law, as well as a violation of the United Nations’s declaration on human rights.
“The Governor and the Legislature in June made a concerted effort to reform and fund an independent agency that would protect all children from abuse and the criminal elements that prey on them,” said Speaker Tobin. “The Obama administration’s transport of these children from Texas to Arizona only exacerbates the challenge this agency and all Arizonans face.”
According to lawmakers, Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 13, section 3623, which prohibits any person from causing a child to suffer physical injury or abuse or, having the care or custody of a child, causes or permits the person or health of the child to be injured or to be placed in a situation where the person or health of the child is endangered through dehydration or to be placed in any physical condition that imperils health or welfare. Any federal official who directly engages in such conduct or who authorizes such conduct may be guilty of a class 4 felony.