Arizona Immigration Law: National Mayors Group Condemns New Policy, Urges Federal Immigration Overhaul

OKLAHOMA CITY — The U.S. Conference of Mayors has approved resolutions condemning Arizona's new immigration law and asking Congress for an overhaul of federal immigration policies.

Conference spokeswoman Elena Temple-Webb says both resolutions were approved on a voice vote, with some opposition.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon sponsored the first resolution opposing the Arizona law that makes crossing the border illegally a state crime and requires police to verify people's immigration status. The law goes into effect July 29.

A second resolution by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa calls for the repeal of the Arizona law and for Congress to pass comprehensive changes to immigration law.

An estimated 200 mayors attended the conference Monday in Oklahoma City.

Comments

[inthedesert]

06:33 PM on 06/21/2010

Okay the reality of this is: I wonder how many cities employ illegal immigrants in an effort to save money??? I live in Southern California and see quite a few Mexicans working for city departments, the state, etc. Unfortunately, there are still stupid people that think that these illegals are a "plus" for America.....don't get that at all. The argument that they do the jobs that other people won't do is getting pretty tired and clicheish. With more and more legal Americans seeking jobs in order to stay off the street cause their umemployment has ended the illegals need to high-tail it back to Mexico post-haste...and take their 10 kids with them.

[gs-425]

11:22 AM on 06/16/2010

A federal overhaul isn't needed. Enforcement of current law is.

[vippy]

08:04 AM on 06/16/2010

The President and members of Congress have failed to live up to their oaths of office because there’s an invasion of the United States underway through the Southwestern border and nothing is being done to stop it.
The invasion is not new, and it’s not just the current President and Congress that’s culpable, but the ones who served before, the ones before that and the ones before that. It’s been going on for years.
But now it’s finally come to a head.
Arizonans are fed up—and with good reason. Phoenix is the nation’s kidnapping capital and almost of all of the kidnappings involve illegal aliens and Mexican drug cartels. Arizona residents have been robbed, raped and murdered and ranchers have seen their livestock killed, maimed and stolen by illegals.

[carhac66]

10:48 AM on 06/16/2010

actually your comment proves you know few facts. there are over 1 million less undocumented in the US today because of the fed gov, more deportations in Obama's admin than thru any other admin 1st term. AZ law was mainly written by white supremacist. AZ has stopped multi-cultural education, which shows the law is about the old "white is right" mentality of the pre 1960's. undocumented perpetrate less crime that US citizens, this has been documented by several studies. the farmer that supposedly was killed by "illegals", appears the focus of the investigation is now on several US citizens. Lastly, hate is hate regardless of the excuses being used.
Jan Brewer & others are using this as a political tool because they have no solutions to economic & social problems plaguing AZ. hate laws generally draw support because they blame other people for faults of the society. Nazis used this trick to shift public opinion much like the Republicans are doing today. media is also at fault because they have not demonstrated that crime has dropped drastically and that the vast majority of crime is committed by US citizens & crime gangs, not the undocumented. also, the citizens bear the blame also for being weak minded and allowing lies to supplant facts and real solutions.

[gs-425]

11:29 AM on 06/16/2010

Attempting to debunk arguments with ad hominem attacks and race baiting frames the emptiness of your argument quite nicely.

[wyb]

03:07 PM on 06/21/2010

The "Border" has been a problem for 150 years. Polk invaded Mexico and annexed half of their country. Right now AZ is bankrupt and the bottom of the heap nationally. It has lost, or is lossing it's best and brightest. Leadship at the state and congressional level, is out of their depth, and race baiting is only policy they can cobble together.

[bighat]

02:42 AM on 06/16/2010

I actually like most illegal immigrants I have met.

I wonder if the biggest cause for alarm against the illegals is money. If the US denied all illegals welfare or benefits of any kind then maybe the issue of illegal immigrants would fade away.

The feds are going to have to start policing the border. Reason: Drug cartel gang wars seem to be entering the US. I do not believe any of us want that to happen.

But we could end the drug wars easily by making all illegal drugs legal. In a manner we already support illegal drugs by giving out free syringes.

[Rastageneral]

09:37 AM on 06/16/2010

Drug cartel gang wars seem to be entering the US? Got a link?

[spytheweb]

01:14 AM on 06/27/2010

"These newly trained Zata solders are currently enjoying a free rain to enter this country unmolested by American authorities throughout the American Southwest where American Indian reservations, U.S. Military lands, National Parks, Monuments and U.S. forest lands are being penetrated and used by these smugglers, particularly in south central and south eastern Arizona and along the southern New Mexico border with old Mexico."

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/webster/100518

[bighat]

02:38 AM on 06/16/2010

Anyone here ever enter Mexico illegally?

[RickCadena]

12:20 PM on 06/16/2010

I entered Mexico with only a tourist card in February 1966. My intention was to seek permanent residence. I took a training course and became an ESL teacher, and began to teach despite being on a tourist visa.

I got a very good teaching job offer to work at the Binational Center where ESL was taught to Mexicans and Spanish to foreigners. They said they would take care of my papers and they did. On May 10, 1967, I was given my FM2 form which meant that I was given an "inmigrante" status had to renew this form every year for the next 5 years and then apply for permanent resident status known as "inmigrado". I obtained my "inmigrado" status on October 29, 1973, and have resided in Mexico City as an "inmigrado" all these years.

To sum it all up, I entered Mexico legally as a tourist. I also worked as a tourist, which was illegal, from February 1966 up to May 1967. Had I been caught, I could have been deported back then.

[ObamAtomic]

01:12 AM on 06/16/2010

With the pain that Arizona caused to the nation before the world,something good is coming
out from this,"republicans'' will be paying a political price for a long time,also it show America isn't a land of bigots.

[frixx]

01:40 AM on 06/16/2010

What about the pain the mexico has caused to the United States before the whole world?

Would any country in the world be willing to take in so many overpopulating, under educated, impoverished invaders? No, I think not.

32 Million anybody? Canada? Russia? China? Venezuela?

Mexico has human rights after all.......

[ObamAtomic]

01:52 AM on 06/16/2010

You are unwise ,I mean first of all, get your facts straight,come back again.

[Rastageneral]

10:24 AM on 06/16/2010

Those that know history a little better know that Mexicans have had a very positive net impact on the United States.

Would any country take in citizens (in dire straits) from other countries? Yes, they do all the time. Take a look a South Africa and all the poor people that have fled there from Zimbabwe.

What's with the 32 million figure and the random countries you name after that?

[vippy]

08:05 AM on 06/16/2010

Obviously, you have trouble defining the word "illegal."

[ObamAtomic]

02:25 PM on 06/16/2010

Obviously you forget American Constitution.

[Cilantro33]

12:41 AM on 06/16/2010

Perhaps a voice vote should be taken during the next election cycle on whether citizens believe that so-called "Sanctuary Cities" which accept federal funds for a variety of purposes and yet decline to enforce federal immigration laws should be asked by Congress to return those funds?

[frixx]

01:42 AM on 06/16/2010

If only I could declare myself a sanctuary 'citizen'........

Do you think I could be exempted from paying income taxes?

I would just be an undocumented 'tax payer.'

How about that?

[foughtthelaw]

09:33 AM on 06/16/2010

Right, but you can't. Of course, you have all sorts of other privileges that come with being a citizen that illegals can only dream of and would easily exchange for the liminal status "sanctuary citizen." But then, you'll probably say you "earned" those privileges because some guys you never met before stormed the beaches at Normandy or something. It's your "inheritance" like Paris Hilton has her inheritance. But never mind that. There might be somebody somewhere enjoying something you don't get to enjoy and "that's not fair." Poor, wounded honorable you :-(

[wyldthings]

10:08 PM on 06/15/2010

Great then do not ask for federal Funds because your schools are overcrowded. Don't ask for additional funds for hospitals. In other words if you condone Illegal Immigration then lay in bed you made.

[frixx]

01:43 AM on 06/16/2010

Exactly. I don't want anything to do with LA County.

They have made their bed. Good luck.

[den1953]

08:45 PM on 06/15/2010

It won't matter what kind of immigration laws you pass, if you don't start fines for the employers hiring illegals they will still be willing to risk their lives for work, you can't penalize the immigrants and allow employers off the hook!

[JBoy]

02:41 AM on 06/16/2010

The IRS is already imposing hefty fines on any businesses that employ illegal aliens.

[den1953]

09:49 AM on 06/16/2010

You won't stop employers hiring illegals until they are perp walked on TV and made public maybe after the tird time they are caught some jail time!

[bighat]

02:46 AM on 06/16/2010

Agreed. Employers should be charged with a felony for hiring illegal immigrants.

We are no longer the agrarian country we once were

Plenty of Americans are out of work and could do the work the illegals do. Strawberries, grapes and whatever is made out of fruits may become more expensive but that is life

[vippy]

08:07 AM on 06/16/2010

If they are too expensive they can't sell them. Markets determine the price ultimately.
I hear where Florida Farmers are destroying their strawberry crop because it is too cheap on the market, $ 1.99 a basket versus the usual $ 3.99.

[DrewDaugherty]

08:39 PM on 06/15/2010

What's the problem with asking someone who has committed a crime to see proof of residency?

[Tim in Tucson]

10:48 PM on 06/15/2010

Our law in Arizona goes beyond asking for the ID of someone arrested for commiting a crime. Our new law allows police officers to question anyone they suspect, at any time, if they are a citizen. That means that any Hispanic citizen here can be pulled over and questioned just for possibly looking like an illegal (although I am still trying to determine what an illegal looks like).

Yeah, I know the argument that if you're a citizen, you should have no problem producing your proof at any time. But would you want to be stopped and/or pulled over anytime some cop is bored just because you look "different"? And before you come back with the argument that a cop has to have reasonable suspicion to stop or pull someone over, think about how easy it is for a cop to stop anyone and find a reason for justification (I'm assuming that all cops are honest and won't make up a reason).

It's simple: Our new law allows our cops and other state employees to harass others just because they don't look caucasion.

[Jim Elkins]

10:55 PM on 06/15/2010

Oh good Lord....

[FatFeline]

11:22 PM on 06/15/2010

"Our new law allows police officers to question anyone they suspect, at any time, if they are a citizen. "

A lie repeated often enough can start to look like the truth to the uneducated.

READ THE DAMNED LAW!

[bighat]

06:11 PM on 06/15/2010

If we cut all benefits such as welfare, social security etc would illegal immigrants bother us?

Social security is still a relatively new in the annals of time. Maybe we would be better off if we learned to save our money.

Plus we might learn to be better to our children as we raise them so they will take care of us in our old age.

In this respect the latin people are a large jump ahead of the rest of us.

[vippy]

10:41 AM on 06/16/2010

First you have to make money in order to be able to save. Our average wages are a joke and people live from payday to payday or as we can see with the credit card debt they use plastic!
The income inequality needs to be addressed NOW so we can move forward. Also the poorest are always paying the highest taxes = makes no sense to me.

[gs-425]

11:42 AM on 06/16/2010

First most people live 'paycheck to paycheck' by their own doing. Meaning they live above their means. My brother is a prime example. Cries poor mouth every time I see him but 'gotta have' spend $8 bucks a day in Starbucks and him and his wife have Iphones with unlimited plans, drive new cars and live in a house they can't even afford to heat in the winter.

Income 'inequality' is addressed thru hard work by education and work ethic. That is not done immediately with the stoke of a pen. That is unless of course you endorse just taking it from those who have earned it.

Also, the lowest 47% of income earners pay NO federal income tax.

[foughtthelaw]

03:44 PM on 06/15/2010

Ultimately, we have a choice. We can keep the privilege we now have and as a result have lots of people who'd rather come here, or we can give away the wealth and privilege in an attempt to truly make the world more equal and fair. As long as we have the privilege we currently have, there will be people who don't have that kind of privilege trying to come here. I don't understand why conservatives seem to refuse to admit that they're just plain 100X luckier to begin with than any illegal immigrant who comes here. Even WITH our overstated problems, like immigration, we are way way luckier. It has nothing to do with being right, with being harder working or with being legal. It has to do with being lucky. We are lucky and very rich compared to Mexico. Even our "hard working" man on the street who we claim is "suffering" because of illegal immigration, is luckier and has countless more opportunity than an illegal immigrant coming from Mexico with nothing. We're rich and we're lucky and we don't want to admit it. That's what this comes down to.

[Roguewolf]

04:10 PM on 06/15/2010

We are lucky? We are a nation of people (mostly legal immigrants) who built this Country from nothing. Do you think the people who crossed the plains facing all kinds of problems were lucky? Do you think all those who died for our Country to maintain our way of life were lucky? Do you think hard work is luck? Do you think those people who built a small business into a corporation were lucky? Do you think the family farmer who works 16-18 hour days in the fields is lucky? We built America on principles of freedom and liberty not luck.

[Sunnyd2035]

04:25 PM on 06/15/2010

Tip,
its the 21st century.... try to keep up.
We didn't build America we STOLE it get your facts straight.
See last i checked when you show up and there are already people there that you take land from that's called stealing and pretending the Indians were not civilized was our justification?
Please spare me your whine.
We are a lucky nation.

[foughtthelaw]

04:26 PM on 06/15/2010

Well, I don't think "we" are the same people who built this country from nothing. Nor are "we" people who crossed the plains. Nor are "we" those who died in combat. All those people are part of our history which, as conservatives will tell you as soon as a black person brings it up, is something that is by definition in the past. "We" have all sorts of privileges that people in other countries don't have. You were born here, and therefore you inherit the fortune that comes with being from a country that holds much more than its fair share of material wealth. What is funny is that it is the very people who claim how "strong" and "dignified" and unquestionably "right" we are who are the first to whine and worry about some little perceived "threat" taking the whole kit and caboodle over. Well, if our country is so inviolably strong and in the right all the time, what do we have to fear from those immigrants? Your narrative of our nation can only persist as long as you block all the other facts out--kind of like watching a silly horror movie when you know that nobody would really "split up," but you buy into it anyway to get your money's worth. But eventually the movie ends.

[oafishcad]

04:22 PM on 06/15/2010

Mexico is not a poor country. Mexico is a rich country. Their problem is there's a huge gap between rich and poor and a small middle class. There's also rampant corruption. Mexico could be a wonderful place to live. As long as people give up on their own country and come here, their country will never be fixed. The USA is the pressure valve that Mexico uses to keep from having a more equitable society.

[voyager48]

01:45 AM on 06/16/2010

I agree - Mexico is ranked 60th in the world (out of 180) on GDP per capita. we should give teh other 120 countries preferance if we are truly wanting to be even handed about diversity.

[snoopysandyandsimon]

02:11 PM on 06/15/2010

Ah yes, another sunny day in the Arizona Reich.

[oafishcad]

01:45 PM on 06/15/2010

Arizona is doing things they probably shouldn't because the Federal government has never done the things they should.

[PatLow]

05:26 PM on 06/15/2010

The Feds are spending more money on border security today than at any other time in history. The Feds are currently deporting more illegal immigrants than at any other time in history.

The only thing the feds have never done is put forth a comprehensive law dealing with immigration.

[frixx]

07:02 PM on 06/15/2010

No the federal laws state the Feds can fine and jail employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.

The Feds need to enforce the Law, they swore to uphold.

[JBoy]

03:20 AM on 06/16/2010

And the feds have yet to complete a fence.

[Liberalperson]

01:39 PM on 06/15/2010

Boycott all businesses that employee illegal immigrants! Support United States citizens!

[PatLow]

05:28 PM on 06/15/2010

Start by not eating chicken, beef, or pork. Those industries employ a great many illegal workers.

[JBoy]

03:24 AM on 06/16/2010

...so we should starve ourselves as a protest to illegal immigration?

We may hurt ourselves more than them!

[JBoy]

03:22 AM on 06/16/2010

Alright! Sounds good!...uhh, whats the name of those businesses?