Arizona immigration law fuels local discussion

The recently passed Senate Bill 1070–Arizona’s sweeping immigration legislation–has caused outrage in Seattle.

Seattle City Council voted May 17 to boycott business agreements with the state of Arizona, ordering city departments to refrain from signing new contracts with Arizona-based businesses.

Existing contracts, like the $106,000 per month contract Seattle maintains with a traffic light camera installation company based in Scottsdale, Ariz., will be honored until a new supplier can be found.

Seattle University student organizations have begun to discuss SB 1070 in hopes of promoting awareness about the law and its potential long-term ramifications.

The Diversity and Equity Education Program, a subgroup of Seattle U’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, hosted a Courageous Conversation May 20 about immigration and racial profiling in relation to SB 1070.

Members of Seattle U’s chapter of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán plan to participate in an afternoon protest of SB 1070 at the University of Washington May 28. MEChA members will speak out against University of Washington’s budget cuts to its ethnic and women’s studies departments.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1070 into law April 23. The legislation will go into effect in July and allows law enforcement officials the ability to ask for proof of naturalization from people they suspect to be illegal immigrants.

Brewer signed House Bill 2162 into law a week later, adding new amendments to SB 1070. Under these new amendments, law enforcement officials may only question legal status during a lawful stop, detention or arrest. Prosecutors could not justify cases in which the stop or arrest was made on the basis of race, color or nationality.

In a May 5 letter to ESPN.com decrying the boycott of Arizona, Brewer defended her decision to ratify the law to her critics.

“Because of Washington [D.C.]’s failure to secure our southern border, Arizona has become the superhighway of illegal drug and human smuggling activity,” Brewer wrote.

While the students and faculty members who attended the Courageous Conversation didn’t discuss Brewer’s justifications for SB 1070 directly, they expressed disagreement with her assessment of the law as a proper response to illegal immigration. They added that the bill, which grants Arizona’s law enforcement officers great discretionary power, is not the way to deal with it.

Many participants felt that instead of improving Arizona’s illegal immigration policy, the measure will cause racial profiling and unfairly target the state’s Latino population.

Some contributors pointed out SB 1070 has many negative consequences, but one positive aspect, they said, has been the nation’s widespread outcry against Arizona lawmakers and support for those negatively affected by the bill.

“The first step is always awareness,” said Whitney Leininger, a DEEP-affiliated student. “One of the main things we can do outside of Arizona is to have those conversations.”

Carlos Sebaja, co-chair of Seattle U’s chapter of MEChA, said he was glad to see members of the Seattle U community aligning against SB 1070.

“Even if you think that you can’t do anything because you’re not an immigrant, you can do something because you have privilege,” Sebaja said.

Sebaja raised concern about the legal precedent the bill sets. Currently 17 states, including Idaho and Nevada, are moving to introduce laws similar to SB 1070, Americans for Legal Immigration, a conservative political action committee, announced May 21.

“When a law like this passes, other states can think it’s OK to even suggest [passing a similar law],” he said. “That’s a problem that not only affects Washington, but other states as well.”

The MEChA demonstration will take place from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in University of Washington’s Red Square.

Sam may be reached at skettering@su-spectator.com

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