Arizona is under fire — and not because of its dry climate. Ever since April 23, when Governor Jan Brewer signed a new bill that aims to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants, the state has found itself the target of stark criticism and numerous boycott threats. Conferences and conventions scheduled to take place in Arizona have been cancelled and headed to other states, and some groups are calling for baseball players to boycott the 2011 MLB All Star Game, slated to take place in Phoenix. Here, we take a lok at the potential losses Arizona stands to suffer if Americans were to boycott its services or goods.
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42 Comments so far
leave a commentWhat about the cost of never having signed the immigration bill into law? Surely Governor Jan Brewer deemed the costs of not signing the bill outweighed the costs of signing it?
More than just the Colorado Rockies have spring training in Arizona. Cactus League, featuring 15 MLB teams playing mostly in the Phoenix area, is a huge deal in the spring.
Just remember that 70% of people across the nation, including LEGAL immigrants, strongly support Arizona’s action.
If your company boycotts Arizona, maybe they will boycott YOU.
Why do people say “70%” of people agree when they mean “70% of the right wing agree?” From comments I’ve seen, 70% disagree with this bill. Those who do agree with it always get wrong why most of us don’t – they always say: “but they are illegals! They don’t have rights (or shouldn’t).” The point is, WE as Americans DO have rights, and they are being chipped away at, and I do not want to lose any more of MY rights. Not to mention the fact that foreign policy in general is reserved for the Federal government and forbidden the states, and immigration law is foreign policy. Those who say the Feds are not doing any thing about illegal immigration have not been to West Texas where that damn ugly fence runs the whole border, ruining views, blocking wild life, and cutting people’s property in half, where you can’t go more than a half mile without seeing up to three border patrol units, where there are blimps overhead with cameras, where you have checkpoints 40 miles from the border on every highway and road. Then there’s the facts that illegal immigration has been down substantially the past two years in a row. Oh, and if no one would hire them, how many would come?
Illegal Immigration is just another red herring the right throws up to hide what it is really doing – and that is falling over themselves to do their corporate masters bidding.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/05/13/Polls-Majority-favor-Arizona-law/UPI-47761273774578/
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In a poll conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, 62 percent of those surveyed nationally supported letting police question anyone they think may be in the United States Illegally and 59 percent said they approved of the Arizona law that takes effect July 29. Most of the Republicans surveyed by Pew said they approved of the law, while 45 percent of Democrats said they approved of the law.
A poll released Wednesday by the market-research firm Ipsos indicated 61 percent of those surveyed favored the Arizona law, with 46 percent of Democrats favoring it.
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One of our best loved presidents put it this way.
Theodore Roosevelt’s ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.
‘In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American….There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language.. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.’
Theodore Roosevelt 1907
This is a nice quote and fits the time and era that America was in during 1907. It is also about the legal immigration of persons to the United States. Arizona welcomes such persons and embraces their hard work and ambitions to succeed here. It’s those that come uninvited and in turn ignore our laws, take advantage of our public services, clog up our emergency rooms and commit crimes both big and small, that we want to rid our state of. We don’t hate them because of where they come from, what language they speak or the color of their skin. We understand that on an individual basis that many of these people are hard working and good. However, the burden of their unsanctioned stay has a huge impact on our state and we are doing what the federal government is refusing to do. Enforce the law and remove these individuals so that the immigrants that Roosevelt is speaking of can flourish and grow in our communities.
Might does not make right. The majority of Americans did not support Civil Rights legislation in 1958 but after marches and many people hanged in Mississippi, it became apparent that such laws were needed.
Secondly, the number is closer to 60%.
The ‘legal’ bandwagon carries no weight when referring to almost any topic. US law is a joke. Teens sending topless photos of themselves by phone become convicted felons and pedophiles for the rest of their lives, marijuana is illegal, owning a sword is illigal in many states but carrying a gun is legal. Just because something is illegal doesn’t make it wrong.
Well no that is what it means if something is Illegal then it is wrong. Also if you dont like the laws of the country your living in leave no one is making you stay here.
CBS News had a segment which revealed a real cost of this law to the state. A Mexican family of four was featured. Speaking in Spanish the father, who was unemployed, said he was leaving AZ and taking his two kids and wife to CO where he knew he would be welcome. AZ’s loss: a family that cost them money is thus CO’s gain, a family that will cost CO money. I have a condo in Lakewood, CO,a suburb of Denver. I welcome their choice of my state as their new home. Me, I think I will move to AZ – I hear the cost of living is going down.
There is no way that the entire percentage of exports will dry up. These numbers are completely inaccurate and do not reflect any reality. Arizona will be just fine and these silly boycotts are drops in the bucket. I imagine the backlash of these boycotts will bring plenty of money to Arizona as well.
We are now going to vacation in Arizona instead of the East Coast. We are looking to move our business to Arizona; the governor has guts. This will not hurt Arizona; the majority supports Brewer’s action. Colorado Rockies;”home of more Kool-Aide drinkers”.
Damn Racist!!
The biggest problem i have with the bill seems to have been glossed over a while back when the civil rights debate came up. They had a provision that would allow people, who believe the law isn’t being enforced enough, to sue the local government agencies if they believe the law is not being enforced enough.
Ny Times: ‘It also makes it a state crime — a misdemeanor — to not carry immigration papers. In addition, it allows people to sue local government or agencies if they believe federal or state immigration law is not being enforced.’
I don’t see how anyone could agree that this is a good provision and not a recipe for disaster. This provision not only gives this power to the fair and level headed citizen, but also to every and any nut job or idiot in the state who is also a legal citizen. If you don’t agree with me look at it the other way: Congress passes a law to outlaw people from polluting and if you feel like you saw someone littering or causing too much CO2 emissions you could sue the government because they didn’t prevent those people from polluting. The far left environmentalist might like ti but it’s not a logical provision that will help anyone in the end.
The morals and ethics of the bill can be argued on both sides but this provision by itself tells me the bill is not going to be for the betterment of any citizen.
If a nut job files a frivolous suit, chances are they’ll lose and get stuck with the bill. That’s the natural check on abuse. If it doesn’t seem to work, then something’s probably wrong with the judicial system going too easy on dismissed plaintiffs.
This diligence-by-threat-of-lawsuit strategy is the same one that drives the EPA, by the way. I’m guessing the idea is to prevent administrations “of the other party” from effectively removing a law from the books by simply quietly failing to enforce it. The fact that it’s also a boon for lawyers didn’t hurt, I’m sure.
What about an infographic showing how much AZ will save by not giving these illegal immigrants free social services? That would be a better comparison, then we will know the real “cost”.
Right on brother. I was just thinking that very same thing. I live here in Yuma, Arizona and it is nearly impossible to get help at an emergency room be cause it is swamped with illegals. My babies and I had to sit for 4 1/2 hrs. waiting to get helped. There are just too many in our state and the citizens here are really piss off about it. So, pretty much everyone that doesn’t have a alternative motive, such as, a family member who is illegal, supports this bill. The illegal situation is hurting my family both financially and physically when we have to wait long periods of time in the emergency room.
Open borders are the only just system in a democracy. Securing the border is a myth that will only create a black market for access to this nation which has been the norm for the last decade or two to some degree, and we see where this had lead the reality of immigration. As a matter of fact, between the options of open, regulated, and closed, the closed border is obviously the worst (and again anathema to the concept of democracy). Regardless of what supporters of this bill and opponents to immigration in general say, we have had a closed border for the last five years certainly and questionably a regulated one prior to that. And gee, all this scary drug cartel violence has increased under the closed border system. It is one thing to verify the people entering the nation and another all together to discriminate against who enters a free nation.
Take your heads out of the sand anti-democracy isolationists. Success of nations occurs when society is OPEN! Open borders, open internet, open government, open intelligence services. The nation of the closed, the secretive, the excluded is a deposit regime destined for obscurity.
Our borders are open and free. Immigrants like my parents are welcomed to come over, as long as they follow the legal process. Why did my parents take the time to become citizens, learn english and fully assimilate (pay taxes, buy property) if they could simply sneak over a wall and get all of the benefits of assimilation with no costs?
“create a black market” – hello, there already is a black market. If the border were to be enforced then we could stop the black market in which coyotes bring across helpless Mexican families and then leave them in the desert to die. That is ridiculous to just completely open the border. There have been terrorist groups encouraging people to come through the US Mexican border into the US because it is so easy, drug gangs and traffickers are also coming through the border because it is not protected well enough. If it is true that we have a closed border and drug cartel violence in the US has increase it is a logical fallacy to say that because the border is closed therefore the violence has increased. Correlation does not mean causation.
The border is not closed, in 2009 there was 305,534.7 million dollars worth of legal trade between the US and Mexico http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c2010.html#2009. In the last ten years there has never been less than 14 million legal immigrants from Mexico into the US in any year http://www.migrationinformation.org/datahub/countrydata/country.cfm. Before you make such blatantly ignorant professions do a little research instead of just shooting off your self made proclamations.
I actually think we need to make it much easier to come into the US legally and open our borders more in that manner, but it needs to be done orderly. We cannot afford as a country to let Mexican families come here and be killed by coyotes and other human traffickers or allow the drug violence in Mexico to spread into our cities. The trash that they bring over with them needs to stop for environmental reasons, and we need to have a border that is well secured from outside threats.
This is just dumb. A democracy doesn’t have to be open with people outside of the country. Why don’t we let terrorists in too? This country tries too hard to please the rest of the world when the true people it should be pleasing is the American citizen. Granted, most of the time that involves pleasing the rest of the world… but it is certainly not required all of the time.
I personally think this country has waited too long and illegals are now needed in our economy. And oh yeah… open intelligence… that’s brilliant… does that come with the plans to nuclear weapons as well…
Ok, so these numbers are worthless. There is no way that 100% of every dollar coming from outside of AZ will go away.
“The state’s leading export category is computers and electronic products” – http://www.trade.gov/td/industry/otea/state_reports/arizona.html
I really doubt that Mexico will find another US state to supply them with electronics and transportation equipment quick enough to actually make any impact in their total exports. More than that, I don’t think that MLB has time to move the All-Star game since it takes over a year to set these things up.
Outside of CO, I think most State governments would prefer to only support their LEGAL, non-law breaking, citizens that pay taxes (or at least their employers pay taxes even if their income is too low to owe any on their own) California accounts for most of the tourism to AZ where MANY people have second homes. I don’t think even 1 person would avoid going to a state where they own a home just because of an immigration law that makes it ILLEGAL to BREAK THE LAW. They have some great Golf Courses out there as well.
I live in Northern Virginia where we also have a serious issue with illegal immigration. When new home construction was booming, tens of thousands of illegal immigrants came to Northern Virginia for work. Now that the bubble has burst, many of these people live on State run welfare programs that they never paid for in the first place. And don’t get me started on how they affect our economy, they do spend some money here on goods and services, but much of that money goes back to their home country to support their families – AND MOST OF IT WAS TAX FREE!
i think it’s hilarious that people only see one side of the issue…
i can’t wait to see which one of you elitists decides to take the cruddy jobs that is the foundation of your way of life… many illegal immigrants (sorry to say…) take these low service jobs… they are an important factor in the infrastructure…
i think arnold said it best…
“I was also going to give a graduation speech in Arizona this weekend,” Schwarzenegger joked. “But with my accent, I was afraid they would try to deport me.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/11/arnold-schwarzenegger-jok_n_571443.html
My brother and I both started work a couple of summers ago in a slaughter house. I was referred to as “white boy” because it distinguished me from any one else on my line. I liked the nickname and was good friends with the people I worked with even though it was hard to communicate with many of them. My brother was fired for no reason by his foreign supervisor at the same time it was well known that illegals were being hired. Yep, we did try to take the “cruddy jobs” that you apparently think are below your standards for a white person. That seems a little racist to me to say that only people of a certain race are willing to work certain types of jobs. Who is the elitist? The person saying he’s too good for a job or the one who got fired from trying to do a job that an illegal wanted?
FTW
Labor economics are not static. Heaven forbid pay rises and/or conditions improve to reflect the true, legal economic reality. And if that raises consumer costs, so be it! End the distortion.
You sound too comfortable.
I wish ALL states would do this. I’m tired of all of these people mooching free services. Our laws in the US should be just the same as Mexico’s when it comes to immigration. All of the people who seem to complain or boycott are Hispanic people. NOT MY PROBLEM. If they don’t want to pay the fees and become legal taxpayers, don’t let the door hit them on the ass on the way back to Mexico or whatever other country the came from. The US isn’t about being a charity case. You need to be legal and pay your taxes like everyone else, otherwise get out. We can survive just fine without all of these illegals. Trust me. Years from now this will all wash out and be so good for our country.
I’m curious… did ALL of your ancestors know English when they came to this country? How complex was the testing process then? And how much did they have to pay to get in?
Let’s get real. By entering this country illegally a person has violated a federal law. The only issue with this bill should be the effect it has on undermining the federal governments dictate to protect the borders. Any other argument against the bill is doomed.
There always going to ask Mexican Americans for their papers this sounds a lot like the Nazis and Jews back in Germany except they are not putting them in concentration camps. also the boycotts will work and may not get the point out. i think they should just do a riot. like in 92 during the riots. the only reason they started was because they found the police officers innocent during the Rodney king case.
Yes, riots will always solve a problem.
That was sarcasm if you missed it.
I’ve changed my vacation plans because of this bill. I’m visiting Sedona Arizona this year.
Brad, if you are going to Sedona then watch out for the wildfires. That is the part of Arizona that always seems to go up in flames every summer. Also, if you aren’t into the who new age thing, there are other excellent places in AZ to visit such as the Dunes outside of Yuma.
And as a former AZ resident, the thing that I really dislike about the law is the provision to sue the local law enforcement for ‘not doing its job’. That provision scares me as I have friends who would use it to try and relieve themselves of unwanted neighbors.
Has anyone here even read the bill? It’s not really anything new, it just supports already existing federal laws.
-Immigrants are required to carry proof of citizenship (this was already federal law, now it’s state law too)
-It is illegal to be in Arizona without appropriate citizenship documentation (this was already federal law, now it’s state law too)
-There is specific language in the bill that prohibits racial profiling – cops can’t pull you over just because you look foreign.
-If a cop arrests you / pulls you over for violating an existing law (ie you are already breaking the law) and has reasonable suspicion that you are illegal (ie you don’t speak a word of English, your plates say Sonora Mexico and your only ID is your Mexican voter registration card) then while he is running your license & registration he can also run your citizenship status.
-Law enforcement officers have to go through specific training on how to correctly enforce this law.
Sounds like good legislation to me.
I cant believe our country is has gotten to this point. Ppl fought so hard to assure us all equality and everything else that our constitution assures us and now because the system fails we are just going to step all over it. Its so wrong in so many ways. What we should have done years ago is invest time and money into jobs for social workers to really check who trully needs public welfare and who doesnt because being in healthcare for 5 yrs I have seen EVERYONE abuse the system. This country is broke because we let ppl take whats ours. Being hispanic and a U.S citizen I find it insulting that I would not be able to freely go about my bussiness w/out getting stopped left and right to prove Im legal. Mean while, Armenians and russians come to this country and get taken in and given everything. Welfare, medicare, they dont work because they get all kinds of help and they pull in to pick up their checks in their BMW and Mercedes benz. But hey they have white skin so they would not have a problem.
Ok, so have you even read the bill? Carry a drivers license and you will be fine. People are crying about racial discrimination for no reason. If you look at the way our country is going, it is bad to be white. Have you heard of affirmative action? Try to find a scholarship for a white person just for being white. There are scholarships for people for just being black, or mexican but none for someone just being caucasion, or european. And why is it ok to call people white, but not black or brown?? Please stop your crying.
whites and minorities have a completely different view of what police represent.ask a white person what the police is there for,then ask a minority what the police does.Then youcan begin to understand
It’s people like you who perpetuate this racist view of police officers. Nobody is out to get you. Rid yourself of this victim mentality and maybe then things will change.
So the the people with an accent or those who don’t speak english will get harrassed for assuming to be illegal, but the people who speak English and can assimilate but who are illegal get a pass. There are legal immigrants whose first language is not English and there are a whole bunch of illegal immigrants who are committing crimes who speak English, without accents. You cannot know a person status because of an accent or because they are differents its not enough. So everyone who is different from what a cop thinks an american is, will be harrassed and everyone who looks like they are related to the cops get a pass.
This is the same reason crooks use to go to the diamond district in $1000.00 designers suits. They knew they would be overlooked because people assumed robbers don’t dress in expensive threads. Hence they buzzed the door, and walked right into the establishment. You can never judge a book by it cover, there has to be a better way.
When I get pulled over for speeding and the cop asks me for my license and registration, I don’t consider that being harassed. That’s just the law.
Same thing for legal immigrants. Present your documents when you’re required to do so (just like all Americans are), and then be on your way. What’s the big deal?
Now, granted, if you’re being targeted and pulled over or whatever when you wouldn’t otherwise be, that’s worth being upset about. But that’s not a problem with this law, that’s a problem with how officers are trained and supervised. Worth debating, but not in regards to this article/issue.
Arizona’s Illegal Immigration Law is not racist, as the media portrays, it merely states that Federal Immigration Law will be enforced. Those who are complaining need to get their facts straight. Arizona’s illegal immigration law is Federal law
The news is full of unwarranted anger about this so called “new immigration law… See More”.
For a moment let’s look at the facts. * Fact, It is a Federal law (not Arizona law) that makes illegal immigration against the law (illegal). * Fact, Illegal aliens murder many people in Arizona and other parts of the United States. * Fact, 83% of homicide warrants in Phoenix, AZ are issued for illegal aliens. * Fact, If you hire illegal aliens anywhere in the United States, you are breaking Federal law. Are You a racist if you do not hire illegal aliens? Of course not. Are you a racist if you force immigrants to come in to the United States legally. Absolutely not. Another Fact, known terrorists have been captured walking across the border into the United States. ** My question is this. How many terrorists made it across the border that were not captured? **
Many people are complaining about Arizona’s illegal immigration law based soley on what they see on tv. Arizona is trying to protect us against harmful illegal aliens and terrorists. That is not racist in any way shape or form.
People protest and criticize Arizona’s law yet they have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to this situation.
Arizona is not a racist state. If we are then the entire United States of America is racist because the 17 page Arizona Law only states that it will enforce Federal Law.
You overlooked a major angle on this: how much would everyone else suffer when Arizona inevitably retaliated? A tariff hurts both political units, not just the one that is subjected to it, even if the impact is harder to discern because it translates to marginally higher prices that are hard to distinguish as a day-to-day matter. It’s even worse when both political units impose them, one doing so to retaliate against the other. Autarky above and beyond that naturally chosen by a state’s proficiencies and deficiencies just makes the economy smaller and less efficient; free trade makes the pie larger (although particular segments of individuals might not always be better off for it, but it’s not as though those people are entitled to a subsidy from the rest of us).
Of course, the idea that either side could abstain from commerce completely is patently absurd, so these numbers aren’t all that interesting anyway.
The Arizona Law is not unique. It merely gives state law enforcement the authority to enforce the federal laws that Washington conveniently neglects to enforce. Arizona has not changed existing immigration policies in any way. They should be commended for standing up for their residents.
It’s not just Mexicans crossing the Arizona border. The law applies equally to people of all nationalities. It is not directed against hispanics in any way.