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Arizona tourism loses more business in wake of immigration vote
Arizona tourism loses more business in wake of immigration vote
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 12, 2010; 2:07 PM
Arizona took another hit Wednesday as Republicans cast a vote for the home of their 2012 convention. Phoenix made the short list but lost out to Tampa.
It was little surprise to tourism officials in Arizona. Since the state passed the nation's toughest immigration law three weeks ago, its meeting and events business has fallen drastically.
Hispanic civil rights groups are boycotting Arizona and urging others to do the same. Officials at the National Council of La Raza, one of the groups driving the boycott, had privately asked the RNC not to meet in Phoenix.
The city risks losing as much as $90 million in hotel and convention business over the next five years because of the controversy, according to city estimates released Wednesday. The state's hotel and lodging association has counted 23 canceled meetings for a loss of between $6 and $10 million.
Choosing Phoenix would have also been controversial within Republican ranks. Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio, whose popularity has been listed as one of the reasons Republicans picked Tampa, has said that the law puts the Arizona's police force in an "incredibly difficult position."
"It could also unreasonably single out people who are here legally, including many American citizens," Rubio said in a statement after the law passed.
Republican strategist Karl Rove has also said that he wished the law had not been passed.
Republican National Hispanic Assembly Chairman Alci Maldonado has not commented on the Arizona law but said before the vote was final that Florida is the "most Republican Hispanic state in the nation."
Arizona Republicans, including Gov. Jan Brewer, have stood more solidly behind their immigration law as a necessary tool for dealing with illegal immigration. She has also pushed back against the boycott, particularly the call for Major League Baseball to pull the 2011 All-Star game out of the state.
MLB owners, who have not commented on the boycott, begin a two-day quarterly meeting in New York this week. No major action items are on the agenda, but advocates of the boycott hope it will be discussed.
"You have a sport that the Latino community loves, whether you are a recent immigrant or native born, Latinos see baseball at their sport," said Clarissa Martinez De Castro, the director of immigration and national campaigns at NCLR. "The question is: As a sport where do they stand?"
The MLB Player's Association has come out in opposition to the law, as have the Phoenix Suns. The team wore its "Los Suns" jerseys last week specifically to push back against the state's law. The decision came from team owner Robert Sarver, who suggested the players wear their Noche Latina alternates.
Arizona and Brewer further irritated Hispanic groups Tuesday night by signing into law a bill that restricts the teaching of ethnic studies classes in public schools. The bill, HB 2281, would ban schools from teaching classes that are designed for students of a particular ethnic group, promote resentment or advocate ethnic solidarity over treating pupils as individuals.
The bill was written to target the Chicano or Mexican American studies program in the Tucson school system, said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 12, 2010; 2:07 PM
Arizona took another hit Wednesday as Republicans cast a vote for the home of their 2012 convention. Phoenix made the short list but lost out to Tampa.
It was little surprise to tourism officials in Arizona. Since the state passed the nation's toughest immigration law three weeks ago, its meeting and events business has fallen drastically.
Hispanic civil rights groups are boycotting Arizona and urging others to do the same. Officials at the National Council of La Raza, one of the groups driving the boycott, had privately asked the RNC not to meet in Phoenix.
The city risks losing as much as $90 million in hotel and convention business over the next five years because of the controversy, according to city estimates released Wednesday. The state's hotel and lodging association has counted 23 canceled meetings for a loss of between $6 and $10 million.
Choosing Phoenix would have also been controversial within Republican ranks. Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio, whose popularity has been listed as one of the reasons Republicans picked Tampa, has said that the law puts the Arizona's police force in an "incredibly difficult position."
"It could also unreasonably single out people who are here legally, including many American citizens," Rubio said in a statement after the law passed.
Republican strategist Karl Rove has also said that he wished the law had not been passed.
Republican National Hispanic Assembly Chairman Alci Maldonado has not commented on the Arizona law but said before the vote was final that Florida is the "most Republican Hispanic state in the nation."
Arizona Republicans, including Gov. Jan Brewer, have stood more solidly behind their immigration law as a necessary tool for dealing with illegal immigration. She has also pushed back against the boycott, particularly the call for Major League Baseball to pull the 2011 All-Star game out of the state.
MLB owners, who have not commented on the boycott, begin a two-day quarterly meeting in New York this week. No major action items are on the agenda, but advocates of the boycott hope it will be discussed.
"You have a sport that the Latino community loves, whether you are a recent immigrant or native born, Latinos see baseball at their sport," said Clarissa Martinez De Castro, the director of immigration and national campaigns at NCLR. "The question is: As a sport where do they stand?"
The MLB Player's Association has come out in opposition to the law, as have the Phoenix Suns. The team wore its "Los Suns" jerseys last week specifically to push back against the state's law. The decision came from team owner Robert Sarver, who suggested the players wear their Noche Latina alternates.
Arizona and Brewer further irritated Hispanic groups Tuesday night by signing into law a bill that restricts the teaching of ethnic studies classes in public schools. The bill, HB 2281, would ban schools from teaching classes that are designed for students of a particular ethnic group, promote resentment or advocate ethnic solidarity over treating pupils as individuals.
The bill was written to target the Chicano or Mexican American studies program in the Tucson school system, said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
I also think that employers that knowingly hire illegals should be targeted. I am wondering about your comments about the social security card. Do they get forgaries? I know we have that problem here with both drivers licenses and health cards. Our biggest issue with illegals is they come here for the free health care, take advantage of it without contributing to the tax system. As a result many provinces have changed our health cards to include pictures and drivers licenses are now more challenging to forge (although neither of these steps has solved the problem). So is it the same issue there? Do they buy forgaries?
But their are bad apples everywhere..Thats reality....Ofcourse their are going to be some who abuse this law..Just as their are some who abuse other aspects of being a cop....
I have said from the beginning that the employers that hire illegals should be heavily fined...But their needs to be an effective way for employers to know whether a person is leagl or not....If a person comes with what appears to be a valid drivers license and social security card what are they suppose to do? Are the employers suppose to racialy profile too? Pick and choose by appearance...That just sounds like another law suit to me waiting to happen.....
I have said from the beginning that the employers that hire illegals should be heavily fined...But their needs to be an effective way for employers to know whether a person is leagl or not....If a person comes with what appears to be a valid drivers license and social security card what are they suppose to do? Are the employers suppose to racialy profile too? Pick and choose by appearance...That just sounds like another law suit to me waiting to happen.....
That is basically how I see it as well. I like to think that most cops are decent people, however they are human beings. All it takes is a couple of cops that are racist and this law could so easily be abused. Illegal immigration is a problem, I can clearly see that. It's just that this particular law seems to open the door to all sorts of potential abuses.
Let me make it clear. I agree that something needs to be done and we do have an ongoing problem that is simply going to get worse as time goes on. It does need to be addressed. I also know and so do you that cops on a power trip are a problem. We see it with the use of tasers, marking cars of individuals who go into a bar so they can stop them when they come out. Most of the law enforcement will be honest but not all. On top of that the issue I have with this is that right now it is concentrated on Illegals this is true. Once that can of worms is opened it is like a virus and it spreads into other areas as well. So it might be okay with people for the illegal immigrant situation but lets see if those same people are okay with this in say 5 years? When the same thing is applied to different avenues. If we did not provide the jobs for them or buy their drugs etc, they would not be here, so what now? Everyone that has helped create the problem or done nothing to resolve it up till now gets off without a handslap?
I think people are forgetting that all police are trained to profile suspected criminals..Wether they are brown,white,green or whatever...
I cannot count how many times on the show "Cops" thay have pulled someone over for looking suspicious or comming out of a suspicious area...
They have created the need for such a law in the first place.Secondly the government is also to blame for allowing this to get out of hand.
If you are not doing something wrong in the first place what difference does it make?
If I were a legal mexican american citizen who had done things the right way I would be proud to show my papers....
If you get pulled over the cops are going to ask for ID,insurance and registration just like they always do....If you have it then theres not a problem regaurdless of skin color.
I cannot count how many times on the show "Cops" thay have pulled someone over for looking suspicious or comming out of a suspicious area...
They have created the need for such a law in the first place.Secondly the government is also to blame for allowing this to get out of hand.
If you are not doing something wrong in the first place what difference does it make?
If I were a legal mexican american citizen who had done things the right way I would be proud to show my papers....
If you get pulled over the cops are going to ask for ID,insurance and registration just like they always do....If you have it then theres not a problem regaurdless of skin color.
I do understand the need to end the problem, but I have to agree with Teko. It's still profiling and I struggle with that. It just doesn't seem right to me. Aren't there other ways this can be dealt with?
So if they pull me over are they gonna ask for my papers or is it simply those brown skinned ones that they will be curious about? If they ask for mine then no I would absolutely agree it is not profiling. However if they don't ask for mine because of my skin color and they do my neighbor who is brown, it is definitely profiling.
You are correct that there are families that have been there generations...But the truth in the matter is that the majority of the mexican population is in AZ Illegally..They have been there for generations Illegally....
I looked at this law more closely....An example would be that if a cop pulls over a vehicle for speeding and if the cop suspects that they may be illegal he can ask for "Papers"....
Agin they are more likely to be Illegal than not....
My state is looking into an immigration bill simular to AZ....It may be passed in Febuary 2011.....I have a feeling that it will definatly pass....I am in the heartland of America where that actually still means somthing....
I looked at this law more closely....An example would be that if a cop pulls over a vehicle for speeding and if the cop suspects that they may be illegal he can ask for "Papers"....
Agin they are more likely to be Illegal than not....
My state is looking into an immigration bill simular to AZ....It may be passed in Febuary 2011.....I have a feeling that it will definatly pass....I am in the heartland of America where that actually still means somthing....
As I said if they dont like America are jealous of America butt out of America...especially the obviously jealous ones......who would like to see us a socialist country .
I don't disagree with targeting illegal immigration. From the interviews I have seen and the articles I have read I don't get the impression that too many do. The feeling I got from all of the controversy over this law is the latino population that is here either legally, or were born here. Don't many of the latino population go back generations? They feel that this law opens the door to police harrassment, and that there might be a better way to do it. Didn't I hear something about the law being amended somewhat to prevent this?
I can understand why they might feel this way. If I was travelling there I bet I wouldn't be asked to show papers. It really does seem that latino's will be the ones targeted here. If I am wrong in this, please explain as I clearly am missing something.
I can understand why they might feel this way. If I was travelling there I bet I wouldn't be asked to show papers. It really does seem that latino's will be the ones targeted here. If I am wrong in this, please explain as I clearly am missing something.
Go Vintendo you said it for me aswell........this turning against America is becoming ridiculous ...its not only about Immigration...really crazy if you dont like America dont live here dont come here ..
You said a mouthful there --- everyone counts except we, who are footing the bill.
I truly am getting sick to death with all this "smoke and mirrors" being played out, allegedly about immigration.
If an American illegally entered any other country, there would be no freebies handed out to us, in fact if we even tried to get free help, they would laugh like loons as they carried us off to a jail awaiting deportation. Or worse.
We have seniors, children and people with incurable terminal illnesses dying in our country because of the misuse of the Social Security Agency Trust Fund, yet we allow illegal immigrants who unlike my grandparents, parents and myself have NEVER put a dime into the Fund to get full benefits including driver licensing when they can't even read, write or speak English.
It is disgusting the way America has turned its back on out own people all in the name of MONEY! I can't even watch the news anymore because all I see is greed, corruption and a corrupt government far beyond ANYTHING I have ever done. And no-one is doing a thing about it except to "discuss the matter' while more and more of our "elected officials" figure out ways to keep on taking away more money to "bail out" everybody but our own low-income citizens.
When do we count? How Do we survive? Who do we turn to for help?
IT IS CERTAINLY NOT "OUR" OWN PEOPLE.
Is there any hope left? If so, will someone please tell me?
If an American illegally entered any other country, there would be no freebies handed out to us, in fact if we even tried to get free help, they would laugh like loons as they carried us off to a jail awaiting deportation. Or worse.
We have seniors, children and people with incurable terminal illnesses dying in our country because of the misuse of the Social Security Agency Trust Fund, yet we allow illegal immigrants who unlike my grandparents, parents and myself have NEVER put a dime into the Fund to get full benefits including driver licensing when they can't even read, write or speak English.
It is disgusting the way America has turned its back on out own people all in the name of MONEY! I can't even watch the news anymore because all I see is greed, corruption and a corrupt government far beyond ANYTHING I have ever done. And no-one is doing a thing about it except to "discuss the matter' while more and more of our "elected officials" figure out ways to keep on taking away more money to "bail out" everybody but our own low-income citizens.
When do we count? How Do we survive? Who do we turn to for help?
IT IS CERTAINLY NOT "OUR" OWN PEOPLE.
Is there any hope left? If so, will someone please tell me?
La Raza Unida (The Unifided Race)
They consider themselves the Third Political Party....
They are an extremist group that just so happens to get funding by our own government....
American schools should not have classes catering to spanish speaking only children...Thats reverse rascism and exclusion.Your in America speak english...It's that simple....What other country does this?
I do not think that Arizona will take that much of a hit in it's tourism....
Places like Sedona and the Grand Canyon are breath taking and people will always come to see them.....I remeber when Phoenix did not have a Baseball, football or hockey team...They seemed to do just fine...
They consider themselves the Third Political Party....
They are an extremist group that just so happens to get funding by our own government....
American schools should not have classes catering to spanish speaking only children...Thats reverse rascism and exclusion.Your in America speak english...It's that simple....What other country does this?
I do not think that Arizona will take that much of a hit in it's tourism....
Places like Sedona and the Grand Canyon are breath taking and people will always come to see them.....I remeber when Phoenix did not have a Baseball, football or hockey team...They seemed to do just fine...
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