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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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when will the mainstream media report the real story here? This isn't about racial profiling folks! We have all sorts of nationalities crossing our southern border, not just "Latinos". We recently had 7 illegals jump a perimeter fence at a local government facility where weapons are housed. What's up with that? It won't make the news, of course, but let's quit making this a story about racial profiling and the economics of lost jobs when the real story is a very serious issue about anyone from any country AND I MEAN ANY COUNTRY (google 'illegal border crossers Chinese' and see what you get) being able to walk in across our borders with all sorts of agendas. It's time to quit allowing folks to enter here illegally. Legal immigration... no problem. Illegal immigration... our problem.
Just bought $114.00 worth of bicycle parts from Arizona. The shop in town has a "boycott Arizona" sign in their window... talk about back firing. I will let the owners know tomorrow. The shipping cost less then CA. sales tax, double win!!!
Was that AZ company mentioned in the article text Redflex, perchance? As far as I know, Redflex has the pleasure of enforcing some of our traffic laws here in AZ. FYI, Redflex is an Australian corporation. I understand Australia's immigration standards are much tougher than ours...
I don't have an educated opinion on our new immigration law because I haven't actually read it. Sure would be nice if along with reporting all the negative feedback it's generating, a reliable news source would publish it's content.
Living in Las Vegas, I can't wait to hop over the border as the visitor in this story did, and spend, if only a little. If I buy something on the Internet, it will be from AZ, if possible. And don't forget NV when you comment on which states will be inundated when more illegal "immigrants" flee AZ.
How can one commenter not believe that jobs are being taken from Americans when another has already given personal testimony? LV is full of illegal aliens working in construction, landscaping, and other occupations - occupations that years ago were populated with natives of the U.S.
Not only are they taking jobs, they are putting out of business those business owners who refuse to hire them! These are few and far between, of course, because you can't compete if you don't. And I hate not knowing, when I hire a company to trim my trees or something, whether they are using illegal labor.
This country has gone crazy, but AZ has begun coming to its senses due to a particularly bad situation near its border. Must it take murders, drug gang infiltration and such for states to finally get it?
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.
It really makes me mad when people say they do jobs that we don’t want. Do you mean plumbers, electricians, carpenters, pool cleaners, landscapers? I am an electrician in ca. I work on job sites were probably 65% to 70% of the people I work with don’t even speak English. I feel like an outsider at my own job. Constantly out of the loop. Illegals are beating us out of jobs because they can do it cheaper. My boss pays me $30.00 an hour. But with burden (unemployment, social security, taxes, ect.) he ends up having to pay about $55 to $60 an hour for me. Illegal’s are willing to do the job for less and don’t have to pay burden. So they do it for $20.00 an hour with no taxes. Who do you think the Clint is going to pick to remodel their house? They are just worried about price. People don’t like when this country outsources jobs overseas, why should we like when you out source jobs at home.
Second, we should know who is entering this country and what their backgrounds are, and intent of their visit. The country is not going through an economic boom right now. So this would be the time to close the border 100% until there is demands for a work force that cannot be meet by American citizens.
The immigration law already required before Arizona passed their bill that all new immigrants carry their visa at all times. Police already have all the rights that Arizona put in their bill, except that now, if the police officer believes you are an illegal immigrant after he has stopped you for another crime. He can ask to see your visa that you were already ordered to carry at all time when you got your visa. Ever hear of the terry law. Signed in 1968 giving police the right to stop you if they have reasonable suspicion. It had been on the books for ever.
A "Terry Stop" is a stop of a person by law enforcement officers based upon "reasonable suspicion" that a person may have been engaged in criminal activity, whereas an arrest requires "probable cause" that a suspect committed a criminal offense. The name comes from the standards established in a 1968 case, Terry v. Ohio
Please don't call Arizona's immigration law "tough." "Controversial," maybe, but Arizona's law is actually more lenient than the federal law,, which I think it either quotes verbatim or includes by reference; the only difference is that the state law will actually be enforced.
Please don't call Arizona's immigration law "tough." "Controversial," maybe, but Arizona's law is actually more lenient than the federal law,, which I think it either quotes verbatim or includes by reference; the only difference is that the state law will actually be enforced.
While I support the need for immigration reform and making legal immigration the preferred method for those wishing to seek their fortunes in our country - something all of our ancestors did - the need to carry papers reminds me too much of Nazi SS laws (Jews were the illegals then-still want to heedlessly obey your government?) and needs to be amended.
As for the fear expressed in these comments that illegal immigrants are taking jobs or government support - I'm pretty sure that the jobs they take are the ones no one else wants - like working in strawberry fields in CA or meat packing plants in IL. And speaking of those jobs - why not go after the employers? There wouldn't be illegal immigrants if they couldn't get jobs here. Then again, employers tend to be large political contributors who'd rather work illegals as hard as they can and then call the cops on them so they don't have to pay up.
Oh, and try getting welfare of other government services even with a social security number. There are more than enough poor citizens that my social worker sister works with here in the NY metro area without proper access to these services to make it clear that fears of illegal abuse of such services is unfounded.
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