3:43 PM
CAUSA Communications Department
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 23, 2010
Contact:
Francisco Lopez, Executive Director: (503) 269-5694
Erik Sorensen, Communications Director: (503) 488-0263
Oregon Coalition Condemns Discriminatory New Law Passed in Arizona State
Salem, Ore--Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition condemns the decision of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to sign the most extreme legislation anywhere in the country to deal with the nation's broken immigration system.
Signed into law this afternoon, SB1070 provides sweeping and unprecedented immigration enforcement powers to local law enforcement; it legalizes racial profiling and civil rights violations and is a deeply troubling development, the impact spreading far beyond Arizona's state lines. The legislation will prevent local law enforcement from doing their jobs effectively, and will be prohibitively expensive to implement due to serious constitutional and legal questions.
The voices in opposition to the bill-- many who have been holding vigils over the past 5 days outside the Statehouse--include Arizona law enforcement, a diverse coalition of faith leaders, immigrants' advocates, civil rights leaders, and legal scholars.
"This new law is bad public policy that won't solve our nations broken immigration system", said Francisco Lopez, Executive Director of CAUSA. "Our dysfunctional immigration laws are a serious national problem that requires a serious federal solution. Comprehensive immigration reform is the only way to fix the system and no costly state-level draconian law solely appealing to people's fears will accomplish that."
Addressing the aspects of racial profiling within the new law, Lopez added that, "No one should be in fear of being detained or arrested for the way they look. Arizona's dangerous step toward being a police state is a national and even a global embarrassment."
"The Latino community will step-up the pressure on the Federal Government for the passage of a Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation that will legalize 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States and we will accompany the struggle of our brothers and sisters in Arizona to repeal this racist law."
In a statement from the White House today, President Obama said that he has instructed the Department of Justice to examine the legality of Arizona bill. He also said that Congress must pass immigration reform or else leave the door open to "irresponsibility by others."
CAUSA will continue to keep the pressure on the President and members of Congress and urge them to stop other states from following Arizona's misguided path by taking a stronger leadership role in moving comprehensive immigration reform legislation and rectifying this federal failure.
CAUSA, Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition, is a member of the Reform Immigration FOR America coalition and is the largest Latino and Latina civil and human rights and advocacy organization in the Pacific Northwest. We work to defend and advance immigrant rights through coordination with local, state, and national coalitions and allies. For more information, visit www.causaoregon.org
ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN: The Reform Immigration FOR America campaign is a coalition of more than 600 faith, labor, business, progressive, and immigration reform groups that have joined together to get comprehensive immigration reform passed. For more information please visit www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org or http://www.reformamigratoriaproamerica.org/
Posted in: Arizona,Comprehensive Immigration Reform,racial profiling,SB1070
1 comments:
Let's try getting Oregon to pass legislature to create a safe haven for all immigrants! If they aren't allowed to live in Arizona, let them come to Oregon!
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