Arizona’s Democrat Governor Kate Hobbs has enacted a new law prohibiting encampments on public university campuses amid a wave of student-led protests, particularly antisemitic, across the country.
Hobbs signed House Bill 2880 into law last week. The legislation makes it illegal for individuals to “establish or occupy an encampment on a university or community college campus.”
Under the new law, campus officials are required to instruct anyone setting up an encampment to either dismantle it immediately or leave the premises. Individuals who fail to comply may face trespassing charges and could be held responsible for any resulting property damage.
Fox News reports that law enforcement is directed to enforce the encampment ban and is granted the authority to “remove an encampment and any individual or group from campus that has violated the prohibition and refused to comply with the direction to leave,” according to the bill’s language.
The measure was introduced by Democratic State Representative Alma Hernandez, who defended it during a February hearing before the Education Committee. “This is not about silencing anyone’s right to protest,” Hernandez stated. “You still have the right to protest peacefully, but encampments do not have a legal right to be on campus.”
Hernandez also linked the motivation behind the bill to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, during which the group killed 1,200 people and kidnapped several hundred others at a music festival. Hamas is labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. government and, as described by the Department of National Intelligence, is “the largest and most capable militant group in the Palestinian territories and one of the territories’ two major political parties.”
That terror attack has since fueled a surge of anti-Israel demonstrations on U.S. campuses; many of which have led to confrontations between students and law enforcement.
Despite support from Republican lawmakers, the bill faced strong opposition from several Democratic legislators and civil rights organizations, including CAIR-AZ and the ACLU of Arizona. These groups criticized the legislation as a threat to civil liberties, with the ACLU describing it as an attempt to “curb free speech at a time when we must firmly protect people’s right to dissent.”
The protection of the few crimnal anti Americans don’t outway the needs of the many American citizens.