SB 1083, a bill funding the Arizona State Guard, was passed through the Senate Appropriations Committee. The law would allow for an annual budget of $1.4 million to be taken annually from the “Gang and Immigration Team Enforcement Mission Border Security” fund. There would be an additional $500,000 taken from the general fund this year. The bill calls for an armed Arizona State Guard, outside federal control, to patrol the border with Mexico.

The legislation also allows the Guard to accept “unconditional gifts, grants or devises from any public or private source.“

Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., has come out in opposition to the bill in a press release saying that the legislation is “not just silly and irresponsible, it’s a public safety threat.”

In response, state Sen. Sylvia Allen (R-Snowflake), one of the sponsors of the bill, responded with her own press release that said, “Grijalva can spin his opposition any way he likes, but Arizonans know that we have a huge problem here with drug cartels, allied with terrorists, smuggling drugs and terrorizing the inhabitants of this state.”