Arizona's Immigration law: SB 1070 & HB 2162

[LWM]

Jun 08, 2010
Big jump in Latino registration for Democrats unlikely to turn Arizona blue

The number of Latinos registering to vote as Democrats in Arizona has jumped from 100 a week to 500 in the seven weeks since a tough new immigration law was adopted, The Arizona Republic reports.

The newspaper says many of those registering are young Latino citizens whose parents may be undocumented.

But, the newspaper says, the electoral impact may not be as great as in California after passage of a GOP-sponsored ballot initiative in 1994 to clamp down on illegal immigration by prohibiting undocumented people from receiving health care, public education and other services.

That measure, which was later declared unconstitutional, is widely viewed as solidifying California's growing Latino population as Democratic and tipping the then-Republican state to a solidly Democratic one, the newspaper says.

But such a shift is less likely in Arizona, the newspaper notes, because the Latino vote is lower than in California and there are also fewer non-Hispanics with whom to ally to overturn the state's traditional conservative voting pattern.

Arizona also does not have the large unions to help organize the Latino vote as in California, The Republic says.

[LWM]

Mayors mull proposal to condemn SB1070
by Associated Press (June 14th, 2010 @ 7:02am)

OKLAHOMA CITY - The U.S. Conference of Mayors will vote Monday on a proposal that condemns Arizona's new immigration law and asks Congress for an immigration overhaul that includes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants now living in the country.

The nonbinding resolution being considered at the group's annual meeting in Oklahoma City notes that the law has inspired a boycott of Arizona and says Congress' inaction on immigration led to the passage of the Arizona law.

The proposal also notes that similar proposals were being considered in other states.

The Arizona law requires police, while enforcing other laws, to question a person's immigration status if officers have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally.