Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) has a message for people and organizations looking for a place to spend money: Don’t come to my state. At least not until Arizona disavows its “fundamentally racist” immigration bill.
The bill, which would require police officers to question people about their immigration status if there’s reason to suspect they’re not here legally, has been approved by the state House and Senate, and will become law if Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signs it.
The bill has provoked a lot of chatter on Fox News — and outrage on the left. And now Grijalva is calling on outside groups to boycott his state until the immigration bill is scrapped.
“We’re codifying into law, if the governor signs this, racial profiling, discrimination under the Constitution,” he said on MSNBC last night, adding that the bill is “fundamentally racist.”
“It’s a horrible, horrible precedent for the nation.”
So what can people do?
“The consequences we can only bring up right now is economic sanctions,” Grijalva said. “We’re asking organizations — civic, religious, labor, Latino, organizations of color — to refrain from using Arizona as a convention site, to refrain from spending their dollars in the state of Arizona until Arizona turns the clock forward instead of backwards and joins the rest of the union.”
Grijalva also slammed a “Birther bill” working its way through Arizona’s legislative process. The bill would require President Obama — and all other candidates — to produce proof of citizenship before being put on the state’s ballot.
“It’s unbelievable,” Grijalva said. “It’s embarrassing to those of us from the state of Arizona who feel that we’re much better than that.”
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