Anti-immigrant bills defeated in Arizona Senate

Racist, reactionary forces in Arizona suffered a setback in the attempt to push their racist program through the state legislature on March 17 when five bills targeting immigrants and Latinos/as were soundly defeated in a Senate committee.

The defeated bills included SB 1308 and SB 1309, known as “the Birthright Bills,” which challenged the 14th Amendment to the Constitution by denying citizenship to U.S.-born children whose parents cannot prove lawful residence in the country. As with SB 1070, legislators in many other states were poised to introduce similar bills in their states if Arizona succeeded with these two bills.

Another significant bill that was defeated was the Immigration Omnibus Bill (SB 1611), which would have further criminalized immigrants by making it illegal to operate a vehicle, enroll in a public school, receive medical services, attend a college or university, get food stamps, and on and on. The text of this bill is some 30 pages.

The last two bills defeated were SB 1405 and SB 1407, which would have effectively turned hospital and school workers into immigration agents, forcing them to verify legal status before providing any service. The texts of all these bills are available at www.azleg.gov.

Boycott Arizona campaign effective

The Arizona State Senate is dominated by the extreme right wing. Some 21 members identify with the Republican Party and/or Tea Party, while the remaining nine are Democrats. Senate President Russell Pearce sponsored the SB 1070 bill last year and began this year’s legislative session prepared to unleash 19 racist, anti-immigrant bills.

The capitalist economic crisis has taken a toll in Arizona, as everywhere. Arizona’s economy is heavily dependent on tourism and conventions, often referred to as the “hospitality industry,” where restaurant and hotel housekeeping staff work for paltry wages while big hotel chains rake in the bucks. With the passage of SB 1070, a boycott of Arizona was initiated.

The Boycott Arizona campaign, contrary to claims made by both industry and state officials, has had an impact. The CEOs of 60 corporations and industry groups with interests in Arizona, ranging from Wells Fargo Bank, Intel and Nestle-Purina to Vanguard Health Systems, sent a letter to Pearce insisting that he stop passage of anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona. This letter was made public on March 16, one day before the Senate committee vote. It surely was responsible for some of the right-wing defections from Pearce, showing how much the Tea Party crowd defers to big business.

After the defeat of the five bills, some confusion was generated when an attorney representing the National Council of La Raza held a press conference to say that the boycott might be ended if the five bills remained dead. On March 23, however, leaders of Puente and the National Day Labor Organizing Network held their own press conference in Phoenix to announce that the boycott would continue until SB 1070 and all anti-immigrant laws are repealed.

It wasn’t only Boycott Arizona that had troubled these bosses and their Tea Party servants. The week of March 14 was spring break for Arizona high schools, colleges and universities. Many students spent the week at the state Capitol, protesting the bills and challenging right-wing lawmakers wherever they went.

The sight of these youth must have brought visions of the Wisconsin Capitol to the legislators’ minds. The resistance in Arizona after passage of SB 1070 — interstate highways were blocked, streets were filled with protesters, huge banners were dropped from buildings — has not gone away. It may have subsided, but the outrage is ever-present, bubbling just below the surface, and these legislators fear causing it to burst forth once again.