🎭 Ten Days to Disaster: Republican Walkout and Democratic Complicity With Immigration Enforcement Threaten Arizona Services | BUCKMASTER
$24.7 million GIITEM expansion targets immigrants as Republicans walk out of budget talks with 10 days left
Based on the Buckmaster Show for 6/20/25, a daily radio show in Tucson, AZ, interviewing local newsmakers. Analysis and opinions are my own.
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
Arizona's government could shut down in 10 days because Republican politicians walked out of budget meetings like angry kids leaving a game they're losing.
😡🚶♂️💼 But the real shocker is that Democratic politicians - who are supposed to protect immigrant families - are actually giving $24.7 million to hire 50 new officers 👮♂️💰 whose job is to arrest immigrants and help Trump's deportation plans. Meanwhile, wealthy families keep getting almost a billion dollars for private school vouchers 🎓💵 while public schools struggle.
📚😟 The politicians are also having trouble planning better transportation because they can't agree on anything. 🚗🔄 If adults don't start working together soon, families will lose important services like schools, parks, and safety programs. 🏫🏞️🚨
🗝️ Takeaways
🏛️ Arizona faces a government shutdown in 10 days as House Republicans abandon budget negotiations despite having a deal
💰 Democrats are funding a $24.7 million GIITEM expansion with 50 new officers explicitly mandated for immigration enforcement during the Trump era
🚔 Senator Sally Ann Gonzales opposes the deportation funding, while other Democrats claim it won't be used for immigration despite the explicit bill language
🎓 Education gets some wins, but voucher giveaway continues - nearly $1 billion annually for wealthy families with no income caps
🛣️ Regional transportation planning is in crisis with a September deadline and recent leadership upheaval at RTA
🏘️ Real consequences for working families through service cuts, increased deportation risk, and infrastructure delays
Arizona's Budget Betrayal: When Democrats Fund Trump's Deportation Dreams
Welcome to Arizona 2025, where Republicans throw tantrums and Democrats throw immigrants under the bus—all while the state teeters on the brink of fiscal collapse.
Ten days.
That's how long Arizona has before the state government runs out of money and essential services shut down. While that countdown clock ticks toward chaos, the most stunning revelation from Friday's Buckmaster Show wasn't Republican obstructionism—though there's plenty of that—but Democratic complicity in funding Donald Trump's deportation machinery with a jaw-dropping $24.7 million boost to Arizona's most notorious immigrant-hunting unit.
Because nothing says "resistance" quite like bankrolling the very forces terrorizing the communities that elected you.
The Countdown to Catastrophe: Republicans Choose Chaos
As temperatures soared to 113 degrees in Tucson on the summer solstice—the longest day of the year—the political heat at Arizona's state capitol proved equally scorching. State Representative Nancy Gutierrez, speaking from Phoenix, where thermometers hit 117 degrees, delivered news that would make anyone's blood boil hotter than the asphalt.
"This is really truly our only job as the state legislature, and we have the deal. We've had it for a week, and instead of being responsible lawmakers, the Arizona State House Republicans have decided to play games, and they just left abruptly last night," Gutierrez explained with barely concealed frustration.
Let that marinate for a moment. Their literal constitutional duty—the one job taxpayers pay them to do—is pass a budget. And these supposed champions of fiscal responsibility decided the best strategy was to storm out like toddlers denied their favorite toy.
The $17.6 billion spending plan already has approval from the Senate, Governor Katie Hobbs, and House Democrats. The breakthrough came when the Senate agreed to include $90 million in House Republican priorities, demonstrating actual compromise. But apparently, governing isn't as fun as grandstanding for the Fox News cameras.
House Republicans walked away from negotiations to pursue their own poison-pill budget featuring:
Hobbling Attorney General Kris Mayes' authority in political cases (accountability is apparently partisan now)
Cutting university funding without replacement revenue (classic GOP: make promises, leave others to pay)
Freezing Family Court judges' salaries over custody disagreements (judicial independence? What's that?)
As Gutierrez noted: "The Senate had been very clear that the budget with that in it was not going to be heard in the Senate. They were not going to play those kinds of games, so it was political theater."
Political theater with real-world consequences for Arizona families who need functioning schools, healthcare, and public safety services.
The Democrats' Deportation Deal: A Stunning Betrayal
Here's where the story takes a turn from Republican dysfunction to Democratic moral bankruptcy.
Buried in this "compromise" budget is a massive expansion of the Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission (GIITEM)—and we're not talking about maintaining existing funding. This is a $24.7 million boost specifically designed to hunt down immigrant families during Trump's second term.
The actual Senate Bill language is crystal clear about what Democrats are agreeing to fund: "$12,895,100 shall be used for one hundred Department of Public Safety personnel. The additional staff shall include at least fifty sworn Department of Public Safety positions to be used for immigration enforcement and border security, with explicit mandates for:
"Strictly enforcing all federal laws relating to illegal aliens and arresting illegal aliens," and
"Responding to or assisting any county sheriff or attorney in investigating complaints of employment of illegal aliens."
So much for the "resistance." Democrats aren't just complicit—they're actively bankrolling Trump's deportation dreams.
Democratic Senator Sally Ann Gonzales from Tucson stands as the voice of moral clarity, directly challenging her own party: "GIITEM has a documented history of racial profiling, overreach, and community harm. It operates without transparency, and actively targets immigrant, Latino, and Indigenous communities."
Her message to Democratic colleagues was unambiguous: "If you vote for this budget, you are voting against the very people who elected you."
But Representative Gutierrez, demonstrating the kind of cognitive dissonance that enables liberal complicity, defended the funding by claiming, "that language has been in the budget language since 2003. So it is language that is problematic 100%. However, Governor Hobbs and Director Glover have said that they use money for gangs and anti-gangs. They do not use any of that money for immigration or paying back ICE."
Except that this language was not in previous bills, nor was there almost $25 million allocated for GIITEM, and this bill explicitly mandates using the money for immigration enforcement. You can't claim you're not funding deportations when the legislation literally requires deportations.
This isn't "problematic language" inherited from previous budgets—this is 50 new sworn officers whose job description includes terrorizing our neighbors, our students, our community members.
Despite the Spanish surname, Nancy Burke, who graduated from the Paradise Valley (AZ’s richest city) School District, gained the Gutierrez name through marriage. She is neither Latino nor a member of the Latino Caucus, so she is not a “token” Latino supporting anti-immigrant funding, but, sadly, just another white female Democrat (à la Sinema) justifying almost $25 million for Arizona DPS officers to act like they are ICE during the Trump Era.
In Tucson, where Indigenous and Chicano families have lived for generations before any borders existed, Democrats are expanding la migra while claiming to protect immigrants.
The audacity is absolutely staggering. Campaign on protecting immigrant communities, then vote to fund the apparatus designed to destroy those same communities. This is what happens when "pragmatic" politics meets moral vacuum.
Education: Crumbs for Public Schools, Caviar for Private Academies
While Democrats fund deportation forces, let's examine their "wins" on education. The budget does include some genuine improvements: full K-12 funding, record investments in higher education, including $34 million for the Promise scholarship program, and waiving the aggregate expenditure limit for two years—a technical but crucial provision ensuring school districts can actually spend allocated funds.
"We got the aggregate expenditure limit waived for two years. That's never happened," Gutierrez explained, clearly proud of this breakthrough.
However, here's the maddening context: Arizona continues to pour nearly a billion dollars annually into voucher programs with zero income restrictions, while public schools struggle with overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages.
"It increases every year, and they have not put a cap on it. We fought for a cap, an income cap, the amount cap on how many people are using vouchers, and the Republicans absolutely refuse to put any kind of cap," Gutierrez admitted.
Translation: Wealthy families get taxpayer-funded subsidies for private schools they were already attending, while public schools beg for basic supplies. It's socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for everyone else.
Gutierrez's personal story illustrates the human cost of these priorities. As a yoga teacher at Tucson High, she voluntarily left her position to prevent other PE teachers from being cut.
"I cleaned my classroom out, and it was traumatic for me, even though I know it's the right thing. I didn't want another PE teacher to be cut for me to be able to keep my job there."
This is what happens when we prioritize voucher giveaways over public education: dedicated teachers sacrifice their careers to protect their colleagues, while wealthy families cash taxpayer checks for exclusive academies.
Transportation Tribulations: Planning in the Pressure Cooker
Beyond the budget battle, Southern Arizona faces another critical decision that will shape the region's future for decades to come.
Mayor Tom Murphy of Sahuarita joined the show to discuss the Regional Transportation Authority's scramble to develop RTA Next. This new 20-year transportation plan must be finalized by September 16th for voter consideration in March.
No pressure, right?
The challenge is complicated by recent leadership upheaval at the RTA, which Murphy diplomatically described: "We were without an attorney and without an executive director." The unanimous selection of former Cochise County manager Mike Ortega as interim executive director represents damage control more than strategic planning.
Murphy emphasized that any successful plan must achieve near-unanimous support from member jurisdictions: "It has to be a regional plan... it can't be somebody's personal in one city or one town."
But let's be realistic: asking voters to trust you with another 20 years of funding when you just fired your leadership team is like asking someone to cosign a loan after you defaulted on the last one.
The stakes extend beyond transportation. As Murphy noted from economic development meetings: "When I've attended a lot of the meetings with site selectors, the two things that come up are education and infrastructure. If you don't look like we have our stuff together, I don't think site selectors will pass us over, and they'll go to other locations."
While Arizona engages in political theater and transportation turmoil, other regions are moving forward with comprehensive strategies to attract businesses and create jobs. We're literally competing ourselves out of economic development opportunities.
What's Really at Stake: Beyond the Political Posturing
These aren't abstract policy debates—they're decisions that directly impact your daily reality:
If the budget fails:
State employees don't get paychecks
Essential services shut down
Economic uncertainty ripples through communities
But hey, at least Republicans will have made their "point" about fiscal responsibility
If the GIITEM expansion passes:
50 new officers with explicit mandates to hunt immigrants
Increased racial profiling and community terror
Democratic complicity is normalized for future expansions
Families torn apart with taxpayer funding
If education continues prioritizing vouchers over public schools:
Classroom sizes balloon beyond reasonable limits
Teacher shortages worsen as professionals flee
Educational inequality becomes generational wealth inequality
Public education slowly strangles while private schools feast
If RTA Next fails:
$110 million in annual transportation funding vanishes
Regional coordination collapses into municipal chaos
Economic development becomes exponentially harder
Traffic nightmares multiply as population growth continues
The Resistance Requires More Than Rhetoric
Despite the dysfunction and betrayal, there are glimmers of hope. Senator Gonzales represents the kind of principled leadership our communities deserve—someone willing to challenge her own party when it betrays fundamental values. Representative Gutierrez and Mayor Murphy, despite their compromises, demonstrate a commitment to transparent governance and constituent communication.
But hope without action is just wishful thinking dressed up in progressive rhetoric.
The path forward requires abandoning the false choice between "pragmatic" compromise and principled resistance. You can oppose deportation funding AND support education investments. You can demand transportation planning transparency AND regional cooperation. You can challenge Democratic complicity AND fight Republican obstruction.
The resistance continues, but it requires resistance to comfortable compromises as much as obvious enemies.
How to Channel Your Righteous Anger into Action
Your voice matters more than politicians want you to believe. Here's how to make it heard:
Immediate Actions:
Contact your state legislators about the budget crisis—especially Democrats supporting GIITEM
Attend RTA public meetings to demand transparent, equitable transportation planning
Challenge Democratic officials at town halls about immigration enforcement funding
Support local candidates who refuse compromises with deportation forces
Long-term Engagement:
Vote in every election, especially local races, where your impact multiplies
Run for office yourself or recruit principled candidates
Build community organizations that hold all politicians accountable
Support independent journalism that exposes uncomfortable truths
Democracy works best when comfortable politicians become uncomfortable with voter scrutiny.
Supporting independent media, such as Three Sonorans' Substack, ensures that these crucial stories reach communities that corporate media often ignores. While mainstream outlets focus on horse-race coverage and false balance, we're here explaining how political decisions actually affect your family's daily life, including when supposed allies betray fundamental principles.
The resistance isn't just about opposing Trump—it's about demanding better from everyone who claims to represent our values. When Democrats fund deportation forces while claiming to protect immigrants, that's not pragmatism; it's moral cowardice disguised as political strategy.
What Do You Think?
These decisions will shape Arizona's future for decades, affecting everything from classroom sizes to community safety to economic opportunities. The question isn't whether you can influence these outcomes—it's whether you're willing to demand better from all your elected officials, regardless of party affiliation.
Here are two crucial questions for reflection: How can we hold Democratic politicians accountable when they betray immigrant communities while claiming to protect them? And what would truly equitable budget priorities look like if working families' needs actually drove spending decisions instead of wealthy donors' demands?
The path forward requires all of us to stay engaged, stay angry, and stay hopeful. Share your thoughts in the comments below, because democracy thrives when comfortable politicians face uncomfortable questions from informed constituents.
Our communities have survived worse betrayals and emerged stronger. We'll survive these, too, but only if we refuse to accept "lesser evil" politics that still fund deportation machines and starve public schools. The resistance continues, starting with resisting the urge to accept unacceptable compromises.
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