By Sergio Arellano-Oros
A small group of supporters showed up for a press conference called by State Senator Steve Gallardo and Representative Sally Gonzales at the Arizona State building in Tucson. The legislators took questions from members of the press in attendance, whose numbers nearly equaled the size of SB1070 opponents.
Gallardo has introduced SB 1120 and Rep. Gonzales has introduced HB 2651 for the purpose of repealing SB 1070 in the 2013 legislative session. The two will have no success; however Gallardo is not known to miss an opportunity to exploit the difficult issues facing border communities like Tucson.
To that end, Pima County Attorney Isabel Garcia, co-chair of Coalicion de Derechos Humanos was invited to speak at the conference. In a statement released before the conference, Garcia claimed that “The only way to secure our communities is to repeal SB1070.”
The group, Repeal and Resist SB 1070 Coalition, includes Tucson human rights groups, business leaders, clergy, and union leaders in its call for an end to this law which kills jobs, hurts Arizona’s reputation, and denies human rights to US citizens and non-citizens alike.
Gallardo said SB1070 is “haunting the state of Arizona” referring to the near destruction of Arizona’s economic recovery. Gallardo fails to mention that Congressman Raul Grijalva called for a boycott of his own people when SB1070 was passed, leading to a huge loss of revenue statewide and devastated the tourism industry in Tucson, the 6th poorest metropolitan are in the country.
While Gallardo and Gonzales are determined to focus on SB1070, and demonize Tucson Police and Border Patrol agents, other Arizona Latinos are coming to law enforcement’s defense. Pat Sexton, a legal immigrant from Guatemala says the officers were “simply doing their job. If there is someone breaking the law, they are going to stop them no matter who is breaking the law.” When asked if she has ever had a bad experience with racial profiling on behalf of law enforcement she assured that she has never had a single problem.
Other members of the Arizona Latino Republican Association said they doubt the efforts to repeal SB 1070 will amount to anything other than to divide people and create fear. “It is all political,” said one ALRA member. “If they can’t scare people, what have they got? Ulich can’t run on her record of bringing jobs to Tucson, she’s too busy establishing businesses in other states” referring to Tucson City Councilperson Karen Ulich who showed up for a protest of a recent arrest of an undocumented entrant in Tucson who was arrested for child neglect and driving on an expired license.
Rene Meza Huerta stuffed two of his six children into the back compartment of a hatchback. None of the four children in the car were in child safety seats. Meza Huerta was deported after it was discovered that he was in the country illegally and had a criminal record.