RITA Statement on Signing of Anti-Immigrant Arizona Bill
Contact:
Adriana Cadena
RITA Coordinator
(915) 253-2262
April 24, 2010
**Statement Re: Signing of Anti-Immigrant Bill in Arizona**
The Reform Immigration for Texas Alliance (RITA), a multi-sector, statewide network dedicated to building support for a sensible immigration policy, releases the following statement regarding the signing of the anti-immigrant bill in Arizona by Governor Jan Brewer.
“The Reform Immigration for Texas Alliance, representing over 100 organizations from throughout Texas, is profoundly disappointed by the signage of SB 1070 by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. This bill is one of the most draconian and unconstitutional laws passed in the country. It undermines the fundamental principles of liberty and freedom under which the United States Constitution was established by legalizing the racial profiling of members of the Latino community.
The impact of this Arizona law will reach every individual, citizen or not, and will create a climate of fear and persecution of immigrants, Latinos and other ethnic groups. This law has the tremendous potential to jeopardize public safety due to the shifting of resources of local law enforcement. Now local Arizona police departments will be forced to focus their efforts to stop anyone that looks like an immigrant instead of fighting crime and protecting our communities. Moreover, SB 1070 creates a situation where the immigrant community will not trust of their local police departments and will not report criminal activities.
Overall, the Arizona Governor, along with the majority of the Arizona Legislature (mostly Republicans), took a pure political decision, based on prejudice and misconceptions, to deny the social, economic, cultural and political contributions of immigrants and Latinos. The have decided to play with the irrational fears and sentiments of Arizona voters to advance an extreme and conservative political agenda, ignoring the basic principles of civil rights and respect.
RITA acknowledges the dangers of these aggressions toward rights and liberties in Arizona and the potential of this type of policy to extent to other states, including Texas. We empathically reject and denounce them.
In the end, this situation makes the call for a just immigration reform more urgent. Now is the time for President Obama to take leadership and make a serious effort. Now is the time for members of Congress, in particular Senators Hutchison and Cornyn from Texas, to put aside their empty political rhetoric and lead the discussion to pass immigration reform. The more we wait for comprehensive immigration reform, the more we damage our country with these racist and xenophobic agendas.”
###
Filed in: Legislation
