Sen. President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has come out on the growing "boycott Arizona" movement:
California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today he has asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to work with him to review all state contracts with Arizona and possibly break them because of Arizona's new immigration police law.
"That bill is a gross civil-rights violation. We hope it will be overturned by the courts quickly," said the Sacramento Democrat, who sent a letter to Schwarzenegger today.
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"It's a civil-rights issue whenever you set somebody aside because of the color of their skin or where they come from," said Steinberg, who is a lawyer. "And that applies to both legal immigrants, citizens and undocumented immigrants. I mean, how do you define reasonable suspicion? There's only one way under that law. And it's somebody who looks Mexican. Period."(Sac Bee)
Yesterday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors came out for a similar boycott Arizona resolution, as did City Attorney Dennis Herrera. Today, Janice Hahn introduced a resolution at the LA City Council.
See, it's not always the best business to tell a whole group of people that they aren't welcome in your state. It's not even about immigration status, because there is, quite frankly, no way that this doesn't make "Driving while brown" a new offense in the state. If Arnold had any real courage, he'd sit down with Steinberg, and really put the pinch to Arizona. |
