Offensive Against Arizona-Type Laws Gains Momentum
Last week’s defeat of five stringent immigration bills in the Arizona legislature was no fluke.
Ever since that state’s notorious SB1070 was signed into law, Arizona has become the focus of the national immigration debate – if for no other reason than for the extreme recourses that it took against undocumented workers. Backers of the bill celebrated what they called the “toughness” of the new law that was signed by Governor Jan Brewer but has been stalled through court challenges. It could be that they over-celebrated.
In their conservative zeal the proponents of SB1070 moved forward with five new bills that were designed to keep undocumented workers form accessing state schools, hospitals and other social services. And this is where they went too far.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce, concerned with falling tourist and convention revenues, published a letter to the state legislature urging the defeat of the new immigration initiatives. The business pressure worked and the bills were defeated.
In the mean time a number of legislators from states across the country have followed Arizona’s immigration lead and proposed “Arizona like” bills. Their efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.
According to USA Today the opposition has gained traction.
A complex web of Hispanic groups, business associations, farm bureaus, civil rights organizations and lawyers have crafted a state-by-state attack against such proposals and is starting to see results.
So far Arizona-type laws have been enacted in Mississippi, Kentucky and Indiana. Legislators in Utah and Oklahoma, to name just two, are considering similar legislation.
“After what happened last year, many expected there was going to be an across-the-board wave of these bills and they would be slam-dunks,” said Clarissa Martinez of the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights group. “But legislatures are realizing that it’s a risky proposition.”
That’s because the opposition movement’s work, coupled with the newly discovered political potential of the Latino community in general, has gotten the attention of the political and business establishment.
In several states, the bills have been killed. Arizona-style bills failed in Colorado, Kentucky, South Dakota and Wyoming, according to the National Immigration Forum, which opposes such legislation.
A variety of tactics were used to stop the bills:
•In Texas, groups such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fundhave teamed with chambers of commerce to explain the economic damage a strict enforcement bill would have on the state.
•In Florida and Georgia, farm groups have warned legislators about the damage an exodus of legal and illegal workers would have on agriculture.
•In South Dakota and other states, law enforcement groups have argued that immigration enforcement bills would strain overworked officers.
•In Kentucky and Mississippi, activists compare the struggles faced by Hispanic immigrants — legal and illegal — to those of African Americans in the 1960s.
I think the wave of these dueling state immigration bills has to do with the cultural ignorance of some politicians who foster laws that affect people they know nothing about. Case in point, this quote in USA Today from a Colorado politician;
“It was asked to me point-blank, ‘Why do you hate Mexicans?’ ” said Colorado state Rep. Randy Baumgardner, a Republican who filed an Arizona-style bill. “I don’t hate Spanish people.”
The fact that I may need to explain what’s wrong with that statement says volumes about why we’re in middle of this debate to begin with.
Follow Victor Landa on Twitter: @vlanda
[Photo by Fibonacci Blue]
