Far right Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Arizona) issued a press release over the weekend celebrating the life of a racist former lawmaker who had been pushed to resign from politics after he suggested that women should only be granted public benefits if they were sterilized beforehand.
Biggs appeared on the House floor last week to speak about the life of former state Sen. Russell Pearce, whom Biggs had served with during his own time as a state lawmaker. Pearce, who sponsored vehemently anti-immigrant legislation, died earlier this month.
Biggs also praised Pearce in a newsletter (in which he misspelled his name as “Pierce”) that was sent to constituents on Friday, describing Pearce’s political legacy as “truly unmatched.”
Biggs’s statements — both on the House floor and in the newsletter — referred to Pearce as tough and courageous, touting his public service in politics and in the military while praising his fascist and racist legacy.
Biggs celebrated Pearce’s authorship of Senate Bill 1070, which granted extraordinary powers to police and other agencies in Arizona to racially profile and harrass people who they suspected were undocumented. The bill’s text allowed police to target people for questioning based solely on their accent, their name, their display of Mexican flags, or their skin color.
The policy also required residents to provide law enforcement with documents on the spot showing they were either citizens or lawfully in the U.S. If a resident didn’t comply — including in cases where they had simply left their ID at home — the statute permitted law enforcement to make an arrest if they had “probable cause” to believe they had committed “any public offense that makes the person removable from the United States.”
Pearce also promoted other legislation targeting undocumented people and the broader Latinx community in Arizona. He pushed a bill, for example, to prevent children born in the U.S. to immigrant parents from being granted citizenship rights (a power state lawmakers don’t actually have due to the 14th Amendment of the federal Constitution). In promoting that bill, he described children born to immigrant parents as “anchor babies.”
Biggs’s celebration of Pearce’s life also omitted that, as head of the Republican Party in Arizona, Pearce suggested that women seeking public assistance in the state should only be allowed to do so after being sterilized or forcibly given long-term birth control that could only be reversed through surgery.
“You put me in charge of Medicaid, the first thing I’d do is get Norplant, birth-control implants, or tubal ligations…Then we’ll test recipients for drugs and alcohol, and if you want to [reproduce] or use drugs or alcohol, then get a job,” Pearce said in 2014 as state party leader.
Aliento, an organization dedicated to serving undocumented, DACA, and mixed immigration status families, issued its own response to Pearce’s passing.
“We offer his family our deepest condolences,” the organization wrote in a statement that was shared on Twitter. “We also acknowledge the trauma and harm his actions and policies have caused to the immigrant community in Arizona.”
“At Aliento, we believe in truth and reconciliation,” the group added. “In order to heal, we must acknowledge the harm caused by those in power as we also acknowledge the humanity of every human regardless of their beliefs.”
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $136,000 in one-time donations and to add 1440 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy