Labor & Employment Law

Momentum Building to Repeal Arizona?s Anti-Immigrant Law

By James Parks

Momentum continues to build for repeal of Arizona’s new anti-immigrant law and as AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says: The law is not only an affront to American values of fairness and respect for the U.S. Constitution-it “severely undermines workers’ rights.”

Any employer faced with Latino workers’ complaints-in the form of a picket or a lawsuit-can simply call the police and have workers arrested under the guise of “reasonable suspicion.” The law’s chilling effect is all too clear.

 The law requires a police officer to demand proof of immigration status when the officer has “reasonable suspicion” to believe the person is not authorized to be in the United States, regardless of whether he or she is suspected of a crime. The law puts Arizona’s entire Latino population-the great majority of whom are U.S. citizens or legal residents-at risk of arrest, Trumka said.

 Read Trumka’s entire statement here.

United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard and other union leaders also have condemned the law. Gerard says the law is political pandering to those who believe that our nation’s economic troubles are caused by undocumented workers.

The image of police confronting people on the street, asking to see identification is akin to things that have not been witnessed since the fall of totalitarian dictatorships in the last century. We can’t let our great nation go down that road. This law must be repealed.

Both Gerard and Trumka say the nation needs comprehensive immigration reform, not state-by-state laws.

Here’s Trumka:

We need urgent action. The Arizona law should not be allowed to become a model; it is bad public policy and it should be put to rest  Our focus should instead be on a comprehensive solution to the broken immigration system.

Homeland Security Secretary and former Arizona Gov. Janet Neopolitano agrees, saying the law is “misguided.”  Neopolitano, whose department oversees immigration issues, says she is concerned that other states will adopt similar laws, creating a “patchwork” of immigration rules when an overall federal immigration system needs to be put in place.

This affects everybody, and I actually view it now as a security issue.

The Major League Baseball Players Association said in a statement that the new law could have a “negative impact” on major league baseball teams, which have hundreds of players who are citizens of countries other than the United States. At least six players on the Arizona Diamondbacks roster are not U.S. citizens and 30 percent of all Major League players are Latino.

These international players are very much a part of our national pastime and are important members of our Association. Their contributions to our sport have been invaluable, and their exploits have been witnessed, enjoyed and applauded by millions of Americans. All of them, as well as the clubs for whom they play, have gone to great lengths to ensure full compliance with federal immigration law.

Adrian Gonzalez, the All-Star first baseman for the San Diego Padres, has announced he will boycott he 2011 Major League All-Star game, which is scheduled to be played in Phoenix, unless the anti-immigrant law is repealed.  

Over the weekend, thousands of marchers in cities across the country called for repeal of the law and for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

At a protest rally in Phoenix, Rep. Raul Grjalva (D-Ariz.) vowed to overturn the law.

We’re going to overturn this unjust and racist law, and then we’re going to overturn the power structure that created this unjust, racist law.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon has scheduled a space in the next session of City Council to propose legal action against the SB 1070, saying:

 I will direct the city manager and city attorney to file a lawsuit against the state to enjoin the law from going into effect and have it declared unconstitutional.

Calling the law “an embarrassment to the equal protection clause in the U.S. Constitution,” the NAACP warned:

[I]f we are not careful it will leave a permanent stain on the United State’s reputation throughout the world….It  is disheartening to see the state of Arizona enact a law that tramples on the civil rights of Hispanic persons, and one that cannot be enforced without resorting to racial and ethnic profiling. 

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on May 03, 2010 (boomark / email).