Some Democrats optimistic about Arizona future with immigration under Gov. Ducey

PHOENIX – With Gov. Doug Ducey’s inauguration ceremony on Monday marking the start of his term, some of Arizona’s democratic state representatives expressed optimism about the future of the state under his leadership.

During the tenure of former Gov. Jan Brewer there was hardly a shortage of high-profile and highly controversial pieces of legislation that came across her desk, with none more infamous than S.B. 1070, which was passed in 2010.

Now, democratic state Senator-elect Catherine Miranda spoke to KTAR’s Brue and Pamela at Monday’s ceremony and said she is looking forward to Arizona continuing to repair an image she said was tarnished by controversial initiatives such as S.B. 1070.

“I’m going to stay optimistic,” she said.

Under Ducey’s leadership, she hopes Arizona will cease to be “ground zero” for pieces of legislation that become national controversies.

“The momentum that we have gained the past couple of years, actually the past year aggressively, has been phenomenal,” she said. “Our image has gotten better, our economy looks great, our families are more comfortable (and have) less fear.”

An example of a current piece of legislation that Miranda said she has concerns over is a proposal to put a non-citizen designation on the driver’s licenses of DREAMers in Arizona, which she likened to S.B. 1070.

“To add anything to (driver’s licenses) is … really it is a fabric of S.B. 1070 — an ideological fabric of S.B. 1070 waiting to happen,” she said.

Miranda said she hopes Gov. Ducey is opposed to the proposal and said she believes his background in business is why Arizona might see immigration reform continue to move forward during his administration.

“He’s a businessman,” she said. “He knows how important immigration reform is to not only our state, but to our whole nation, and to have any type of anti-immigrant legislation coming through Arizona, I’m sure he’s going to stay on top of it.”

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