AZ Senate Says NO to Immigration Bills

I read the reports twice, just to make sure, then I went back to read them again.

There were five bills dealing with stringent measures that would add spikes to Arizona’s notorious SB1070, tee’d up for a vote, and all of them were rejected. News Taco reported on the Arizona immigration bill conveyor belt yesterday, and conventional thinking was that they’d all be approved. But when it came time for the actual vote the conservative legislators didn’t have the numbers.

MSNBC reported:

Majority Republicans were split in their votes on the defeated bills, which included two measures intended to force a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against automatic citizenship for U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. The other three dealt with health care, public services and everyday activities such as driving.

This is a radical turn-around from last year when Arizona became the epicenter of anti-immigrant sentiment after the SB1070 bill was signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer. Many of the provisions of that law were challenged in federal court and the measure has yet to be enforced. Now comes this vote to break the spokes in the Arizona anti-immigrant band-wagon. The difference this time around? Money talks.

Dozens of CEOs of major employers and business groups signed a letter distributed Wednesday by the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, saying that passage of additional legislation on illegal immigration would damage the economy and tourism.

Arizona should instead push for federal action on immigration and border issues, according to the letter signed by heads of construction companies, hospitals, real estate developers and US Airways.

“Arizona’s lawmakers and citizens are right to be concerned about illegal immigration,” the letter said. “But we must acknowledge that when Arizona goes it alone on this issue, unintended consequences inevitably occur.”

The defeated bills included measures that

• were intended to force a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against automatic citizenship for U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.
• would have required hospitals to contact federal immigration officials or local law enforcement if people being treated couldn’t provide proof of citizenship.
• would require schools to file reports on enrollments of illegal immigrant students.
• would have made it a crime for illegal immigrants to drive in Arizona.
• would ban illegal immigrants from attending Arizona’s public universities and community colleges.
• would have required eviction of public housing tenants who let undocumented immigrants live with them.
• would make applicants for vehicle titles and registration prove they are in the country legally.

Now that the Arizona legislature seems to have given their anti-immigrant nastiness a rest Democratic Minority Leader David Schapira of Tempe says

“I’m hopeful that now we can move on and focus on the business of the state.”

So where’s the new epicenter of anti-immigrant nastiness? That would be Texas. More on that later.

Follow Victor Landa on Twitter: @vlanda