Hispanic groups plan national boycott of Arizona businesses

Associated Press:

Illegal immigrant rights activists say the recent groundswell of anti-immigration measures in Arizona is making the lives of immigrants, and anyone who looks like one, miserable and must be countered in kind: by making the lives of Arizonans more difficult through lost business and tourism.

To do that, activists are planning a national boycott of Arizona businesses and tourism sites in early July to draw attention to the contribution illegal workers make to the state.

The national effort follows a Phoenix-area boycott of businesses last week that caused a few businesses to limit their services and at least one to close for the day.

Activists say the recent groundswell of anti-illegal-immigration measures are making the lives of immigrants miserable.

They hope the planned boycotts, one a long-term national effort to divert conventions and sporting events elsewhere and the other a three-day economic protest of local businesses, will put political pressure on Arizona legislators to take a more moderate stance on immigration issues.

Breaking the Chains, the group organizing the national boycott, hopes to kick off its campaign July 1.

Organizers plan to convince groups sponsoring large sporting events, conferences and other events that generate a lot of revenue, to take their activities to other states.

"We tried to have meetings, we tried everything, but we found it is impossible to go through the legislative process," said organizer Salvador Reza. "There was no dialogue. It was just a one way street."

Reza said the boycott will be ongoing until Proposition 200, an initiative voters approved in November that limits the government services illegal immigrants can use, is repealed.

Activists say the immigration enforcement measures affect not just immigrants, but everyone who looks like one.

"It's the way I look, it's the language I speak. That's racial profiling," said Elias Bermudez, director of Phoenix's Centro de Ayuda, or Center of Help, and organizer of the local boycott.

Bermudez's group is asking Hispanics around Arizona to not spend any money from July 2-4.

By closing their wallets for three days, the Hispanic community will show local businesses how vital they are to the state economy, according to Bermudez.

"We are saying if we are needed, come to our side and help us live without being harassed," he said.

The two protests are not directly related, although Bermudez said his group is supporting Reza's boycott.

These efforts follow a Phoenix-area work stoppage last week that caused a few businesses to limit their services and at least one to close for the day.

Arizona last saw a large-scale boycott of tourism and convention sites in the late 1980s, after former Gov. Evan Mecham rescinded an executive order signed by his predecessor, Bruce Babbitt, to create a holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

At that time, Arizona was a contender to host the Super Bowl in 1996 and angry executives threatened to take Arizona off the short list unless the state enacted a King holiday. Voters approved the holiday a few years later.

Alberto Gutier, a longtime state government worker, said he doubts the planned boycotts will be as effective as the Super Bowl threat. Most national organizations probably won't avoid bringing national conferences to Arizona unless they want to make a political statement, he said.

But Brent Wilkes, national director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said his organization is paying close attention to Arizona's legislative actions and activities like the Minuteman project, a civilian patrol group that has been monitoring the Mexican border for illegal immigrants.

While LULAC had not decided whether to participate in the boycott, Wilkes said he doubts his organization or other large Hispanic groups would host national conferences in Arizona until anti-immigration sentiments die down.

Earl de Berge, a pollster from Phoenix's Behavior Research Center, said that if organizers are able to run a long-term campaign, these boycotts may be the first step in bringing both sides of Arizona's immigration issues to the national stage.

Apparently Hispanics want to punish anyone who believes that people should only be allowed to emigrate to the United States legally.