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Some don't buy Arizona boycotts
A sign reading 'Arizona, The Grand Canyon State Welcomes You' along the state's New Mexico border on Interstate 10
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Kai Ryssdal: Seattle is the latest city to boycott Arizona. Kind of. The Seattle City council approved a boycott last night to protest Arizona's tough new immigration law. But they managed to do it in a way that maintains the only substantive contract the city has with an Arizona company: $1.3 million to run Seattle's red light cameras, if you're curious. But even token protests like that can add up. Other cities have approved actual economic boycotts. So those who favor tougher immigration laws are fighting back, trying their best to support Arizona financially.
Janet Babin reports.
Janet Babin: Genevieve Peters vacationed in southern Nevada this past weekend. But the L.A. native also went out of her way to cross into Arizona.
Genevieve Peters: We went over there and spent money. We filled up our gas tank, and we ate breakfast before we traveled home.
Peters is what's called a "buy-cotter." She uses her pocketbook to support Arizona's new immigration law. Los Angeles, Boston and New York are among a growing list of entities boycotting Arizona because of the bill.
Peters says they have no right.
Peters: Have you checked with the people? Have you taken a poll? No, you haven't.
Not only are some groups supporting the buy-cott, they're hoping 13 others states enact similar laws.
Opponents of the bill say it could lead to racial profiling. It certainly led to funny comedy skits, like this one from Second City that features a Latino tourist running from the law.
Sound of police siren in Second City skit
Man in skit: Arizona, it's not for everybody.
Woman in skit: From the Arizona Office of Tourism. Come for the barren desert wasteland, stay for the hospitality.
That's the type of profiling Kristen Jarnagin with the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association wants to avoid. The group's trying to put a face to the people the boycott impacts the most.
Kristen Jarnagin: We have 200,000 people in our state employed by tourism. When people cancel meetings or they decide not to come, those people who are hurt the most are the hourly employees.
Jarnagin says the first goal is to stop the bleeding, and prevent other cities from joining the boycott. Then, the group will focus on the long-term challenge of getting tourists back to Arizona.
I'm Janet Babin for Marketplace.
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Here's another angle to this story that I think Marketplace should cover....
Now that some city councils, school boards, etc. have passed resolutions to boycott Arizona, people from Arizona are letting them know they are boycotting these places in return. For example, the San Diego City Council and the San Diego Unified School District have passed resolutions to condemn Arizona's law and are boycotting the state. As a result, many Arizonans who frequently come to San Diego in the summer to escape their heat have let the hotels know they support their state's law and are going to return the favor by not coming to San Diego this year.
I am in full support of what Arizonans are doing in response to these resolutions. These resolution-passing politicians are nothing but opportunists seeking a cheap publicity stunt to try to win minorities' votes. It is not their jurisdiction to pass judgement on the law, and, they need to tend to their own pressing problems like budget cuts and operations. Finally, Arizonans are fed up with federal politicians who are too gutless to enforce the federal immigration laws and have taken it upon themselves to do so. This is not a "witch hunt" for illegals. It is all within the U.S. Constitution's 4th Amendment as it requires "reasonable suspicion" of another offense first.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01...
834b. (a) Every law enforcement agency in California shall fully
cooperate with the United States Immigration and Naturalization
Service regarding any person who is arrested if he or she is
suspected of being present in the United States in violation of
federal immigration laws.
(b) With respect to any such person who is arrested, and suspected
of being present in the United States in violation of federal
immigration laws, every law enforcement agency shall do the
following:
(1) Attempt to verify the legal status of such person as a citizen
of the United States, an alien lawfully admitted as a permanent
resident, an alien lawfully admitted for a temporary period of time
or as an alien who is present in the United States in violation of
immigration laws. The verification process may include, but shall not
be limited to, questioning the person regarding his or her date and
place of birth, and entry into the United States, and demanding
documentation to indicate his or her legal status.
(2) Notify the person of his or her apparent status as an alien
who is present in the United States in violation of federal
immigration laws and inform him or her that, apart from any criminal
justice proceedings, he or she must either obtain legal status or
leave the United States.
(3) Notify the Attorney General of California and the United
States Immigration and Naturalization Service of the apparent illegal
status and provide any additional information that may be requested
by any other public entity.
(c) Any legislative, administrative, or other action by a city,
county, or other legally authorized local governmental entity with
jurisdictional boundaries, or by a law enforcement agency, to prevent
or limit the cooperation required by subdivision (a) is expressly
prohibited.
Illegal Aliens in Country
35,000,000
Other Than Mexican Illegals in Country
600,000
Money Wired to Mexico Since Jan 2006
$300,000,000,000
Money Wired to Latin America Since 2001
$400,000,000,000
Cost of Social Services Since 1996
$500,000,000,000
Children of Illegals in Public Schools 6,000,000
Cost of Illegals in K-12 Since 1996
$250,000,000
Illegal Aliens Incarcerated
500,000
Cost of Incarcerations Since 2008
$30,000,000
Illegal Alien Fugitives
800,000
Anchor Babies Since 2002
7,000,000
Skilled Jobs Provided to Illegal Aliens
15,000,000
Un-Skilled Jobs Provided to Illegal Aliens 5,000,000
By joshua herdon
From Phoenix, AZ, 05/18/2010
Personally, I do not support the law in Arizona for the fact that I was arrested for looking the way I do. I was driving and forgot my wallet at home and the officer did not check my name to verify that I had a license. I was embarrassed when they asked me to get into the car and took me to the police station to be questioned. It wasn't until one officer crossed referenced my name that they let me out. I pissed and I do agree it racial profiling because of what happened to me. To let some people know I know plenty of illegal immigrants that do pay their taxes. One major point that I would like to make is that all those illegal immigrants that don't do their taxes actually help us because the money they don't claim back goes to health insurance and other benefits that we as Americans get. It is also ironic that history keeps on repeating itself again and again & we seem not to learn from our mistakes that we made. For those people who say that immigrants don't help this country but rather make it worse I suggest that you study your history a little better because even though it might be surprising or alarming to you it does.
What a complete lie. The law isnt even in effect yet.
I am so sick of NPR and PBS calling "illegal" immigrants "undocumented workers". Why do you refuse to admit what the laws of this country call people who are here illegally? Talk about liberal bias. Just like the sob story PBS did on the Iowa slaughterhouse employees from Central America. They came illegally, the whole town ignored it and benefited from their rentals and grocery, clothes shopping. Now the town is in a depression because the illegals were sent home. Let those countries start providing for their citizens. All the able bodied young males leave the country instead of making it change to benefit the people.
Arizona has a perfect right to protect its borders, as does Idaho where I live. Did you know 80% of the inmates in our local jail are illegals? We need to pass a new jail bond, according to the ACLU, who keeps suing our county. Why? Because we in Idaho can't keep up with the number of illegal criminals.
If you check the statistics - "80% of cocaine and 50% of heroin in the U.S. is smuggled across the border by Mexican nationals." Arizona had a strong argument to enact this bill, don't you think so? Please, share your opinion and cast your vote at http://immigration.civiltalks.com/ Your comments count!
I support Arizona and the people of my country here legaly,--- before I support illegal immigrant's----the key word here is --illegal---there is a reason for that--if they are illegal---they should be discriminated against---such as criminals are---was not some of the 911 terrorists--also illegal immigrant's??---think about it---if a person is at your home out of place and uninvited ---would you descriminate enough to remove that person from your home?? not racial descrimination but descrimination of what is right and what is wrong---if they are illegal they are wrong---and do not belong!!
I do not agree with Arizona's new law. I think it is totally obvious that it will violate civil rights and inevitablly lead to racial profiling. To J Acosta, I'm sorry but most Mex-Americans do not support this law. Entering this country illegally is obviously, just that, ILLEGAL but I find it just a bit funny that up until this "recession" hit we were all just a little content, if not happy, with these "illegals" taking up jobs in the fields, housekeeping, gardeners, and all the other undesired jobs that us spiled Americans really weren't to keen on filling. Please, tell me when this type of treatment to any human being became acceptable.
i am a mexican- american and I support the Arizona law. you are misguided in saying this it is an anti-immigrant law. This is so not the case - it is an Anti - Illegal immigrant law - why would you support Illegal immigrants (no matter where they are from). I dont care if they are mexican, chinese, polish, russian or whatever. If they are illegal, they need to go back and wait in line like all the wonderful LEGAL immigrants that come to this country looking for the American dream. My wife is from the Czech Republic and she did it the RIGHT way and is now a proud american citizen ( it took 6 years ) she works for a great company , pays income tax, pays property taxes, and gives back to the community legally.
I understand that you probably think that every illegal immigrant from any third world deserves to be here and enjoy the american dream. Unfortunately, this cannot be done without dragging everyone down. I am PRO - legal immigration and so are most people in the USA - when someone comes here legally, they are not criminals - nor have criminal backgrounds, they are mostly educated, they pay all taxes with proper social security numbers, they have studied the history of the USA and speak at least some English, they have been immunized against diseases ( all the illegal-immigrants who sneak in here, well, we dont know if they have TB or other communicable diseases) and most of all, THEY ARE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN - they are not patriotic mexicans, using america's education and health systems while sending millions of dollars back to mexico with no loyalty to America ( I should know, I hear them talk about it all the time as I look mexican and they are not worried about speaking their true feelings in front of me). just look at all the rallies in the past and see how many mexican flags are being waived.
Please, put your liberal heart aside for a second and realize that MOST legal Mexican-Americans like myself, completely support the law , support LEGAL immigrants , and want the chaos to subside that people have to endure by the invasion of Illegal aliens.
If the country next to us was not Mexico BUT Russia and everyone coming over illegally were poor white people, I would 100% feel the same that we need laws like arizona to keep order - be honest with yourself - would you be ok with the Arizona law if all the people sneaking in were poor white people OR would you be writing articles proclaiming that people have it all wrong because they want the law of the land enforced.
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