Migrant Legislation Draws Call for Ariz. Boycott
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Yvonne Wingett, Arizona Republic (Phoenix), Mar. 24
A Latino activist riled by legislation that targets undocumented immigrants wants businesses and corporations across the nation to boycott Arizona and book their events elsewhere.
Salvador Reza is working with a California-based immigrant rights group to organize the boycott and hopes to publicize it through Latino organizations across the country. Without an immigrant workforce, he says, Arizona’s economy would collapse.
“To all the businesspeople that are bringing conventions here, people that spend money in Arizona, people that bring the golf conventions, people that vacation here, go to somewhere else,” said Reza, who runs Phoenix’s Macehualli Work Center. “Don’t come to Arizona. It’s a racist state.”
Rep. Russell Pearce, the Republican sponsor of several immigration bills, called the attempt to bring about a boycott “outrageous.”
“Americans ought to be the ones protesting,” said Pearce, of Mesa. “Those who came here legally ought to be protesting. Those whose neighborhoods that have been destroyed ought to be protesting.”
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(Posted on March 25, 2005)