News coverage in April 2010 of opinions of SB 1070 in the Arizona Republic, the Arizona Daily Star and the Nogales International began with a Letter to the Editor in the Star on April 6. The author criticized the state Legislature for focusing so much on immigration, rather than other issues. The first opinion piece from the Arizona Republic came on April 11. The story, Alden: Border enforcement must be coupled with reforms, was written by a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and advocated both border security and immigration reform.
On April 16, the Republic published an editorial, Immigration law does not offer real solutions, criticized SB 1070 saying that “the state will not benefit from a law that is more about rage and rhetoric than real solutions.” The Star published an editorial, Racial profiling, SB 1070 will go hand in hand, on the same day. The editorial board of the Star was also critical of the new law, saying that “The measure would turn legal residents into police targets, as well as those who are here illegally. It would foment racial profiling of Hispanics.”
On April 18, the Star published two Letters to the Editor, one in support of SB 1070, the other opposed. The letter in support cited the fact that Arizonans frequently have to show their identification, saying that “Arizona residents are required to provide proof of residency to get a job, to get a driver’s license, to receive in-state tuition and to vote in Arizona.” The letter in opposition said “Arizona’s latest immigration legislation, SB 1070, threatens every citizen’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.”
On April 19, the Star published a Letter to the Editor which read “Pending state immigration legislation, SB 1070, viciously targets anyone appearing to be Hispanic and puts an undue burden on police.”
On April 20, the Star reprinted an editorial from the New York Times, Gov. Brewer should reject lawmakers’ immigrant bill, which read in part “The bill is a grab bag of measures to enlist law enforcement and government at every level to expose and expel the undocumented. Opponents say it verges on a police state, which sounds overblown until you read it.”
On April 22, the Republic published a guest opinion, Immigration bill bad for business and economy, from the head of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. Also on April 22, the Star published two Letters to the Editor one in support and one in opposition to SB 1070. The letter in support criticized those that compare SB 1070 to a tactic used by the Nazis. The letter in opposition said the law made Arizona a police state.
On April 23, the Republic published an editorial, Immigration bill holds high price, listed the potential costs of the law, such as loss of tourism, negative attention from the national media, law enforcement costs, legal costs, and “mounting divisiveness.”
Also on April 23, the Spanish-language section of the Star, known as La Estrella, published an opinion piece, El estado de la hipocresía, from Ruben Navarette of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Navarette detailed the political changes he has seen in Arizona over the past decade, in particular the increasingly xenophobic legislation.
Also on April 23, the Star published two Letters to the Editor, one in support and one in opposition. The letter in support urged Mexican leaders to clean up their own country before criticizing the U.S. for making Mexican nationals feel scared. The letter in opposition said that the law would overload the police and the courts.
On April 24, the Star published several Letters to the Editor, both in support and opposition. On April 27, the Nogales International published a Letter to the Editor titled “The Governor is Wrong on SB 1070.” Also on April 27, the Star published several Letters to the Editor, all of which were in opposition to SB 1070.
On April 28, the Republic published an editorial, Law is a plea for U.S. action, that disagreed with SB 1070 and with the “new national pastime” of comparing Arizona to “the old segregated South.” Also on April 28, the Nogales International published a Letter to the Editor that called SB 1070 unconstitutional. The Star published several Letters to the editor that expressed a variety of opinions about SB 1070.
On April 29, the Star published an opinion piece, Immigration law fosters division, triggers opportunities for harassment of all people, written by a civil-rights attorney in Tucson.
News coverage in April of opinions on SB 1070 concluded with an editorial in the Republic, Mexico’s warning overblown, silly, that criticized the travel advisories issued on both sides of the border. The Star finished the month with several Letters to the editor in support and opposition to SB 1070.
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Below is a list of news articles about opinions of SB 1070 published by the Arizona Republic, the Arizona Daily Star, and the Nogales International during April 2010:
Arizona Daily Star: Letters to the Editor (April 6, 2010)
Legislature wastes time on immigration: “I am writing because I heard on a local news station this morning that our state Legislature is considering a bill that would make being here as an illegal immigrant a criminal offense.”
Arizona Republic (My Turn) (Opinion): Alden: Border enforcement must be coupled with reforms (April 11, 2010)
“Washington and Arizona are locked in an intractable conflict over border security and immigration enforcement. The Obama administration has sued to block SB 1070, and the state has countersued the federal government for failing to secure the borders. But if the U.S. is going to end the poisonous stalemate over immigration, it must start with both sides coming together in Arizona.”
Arizona Republic (Editorial): Immigration law does not offer real solutions (April 16, 2010)
“Arizona was in a harsh spotlight after lawmakers passed what’s being called the nation’s toughest law against illegal immigrants. It wasn’t a flattering light, and the state will not benefit from a law that is more about rage and rhetoric than real solutions.”
Arizona Daily Star (Editorial): Racial profiling, SB 1070 will go hand in hand (April 16, 2010)
“A bill that would require local police to demand immigration documents and to jail those who cannot produce them must not be enacted into law by the Legislature and the governor. The measure would turn legal residents into police targets, as well as those who are here illegally. It would foment racial profiling of Hispanics.”
Arizona Daily Star: Letters to the Editor (April 18, 2010)
Re: the April 14 article “OK’d bill lets cops go after migrants”: Arizona’s latest immigration legislation, SB 1070, threatens every citizen’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. In effect, it transforms Arizona, a historically mixed border region, into a police state.
Racial profiling is a tired old cliché Re: the April 14 article “OK’d bill lets cops go after migrants.”: Whenever there is a serious attempt to solve the problem of illegal migrants in this country, the special interest groups trot out the tired old cliché of racial profiling.”
Arizona Daily Star: Letters to the Editor (April 19, 2010)
“Re: the April 14 article “OK’d bill lets cops go after migrants”: Pending state immigration legislation, SB 1070, viciously targets anyone appearing to be Hispanic and puts an undue burden on police. Since it will be a crime to lack proper immigration paperwork in Arizona, I implore every non-Native American in the state to wear a button or pin saying “I lack proper immigration paperwork.” Let’s all be criminals together and hope this law is found unconstitutional. I don’t want to live in a police state.”
Arizona Daily Star (Editorial from the New York Times): Gov. Brewer should reject lawmakers’ immigrant bill (April 20, 2010)
“The following ran Sunday in The New York Times: The Arizona Legislature has just stepped off the deep end of the immigration debate, passing a harsh and mean-spirited bill that would do little to stop illegal immigration. What it would do is lead to more racial profiling, hobble local law enforcement and open government agencies to frivolous, politically driven lawsuits.”
Arizona Republic (Opinion): Immigration bill bad for business and economy (April 22, 2010)
“As any good shopkeeper will tell you, the sale you make at the register today isn’t nearly as important as your ability to attract repeat customers. If Arizona Senate Bill 1070, said to be the toughest immigration legislation in the nation, becomes law, it will be as if we’re telling America: “Sorry, we’re closed for business.”
Arizona Daily Star: Letters to the Editor (April 22, 2010)
Immigration bill can’t compare with Nazis: “I am truly appalled by all the comparisons published in your newspaper referencing the Holocaust and maliciously used by proponents of illegal aliens.
Immigration bill a hot-button issue Re: the April 19 letter to the editor “Bill would make Arizona a police state.” Where can I get one of those pins saying “lack proper immigration paperwork?” The money for the purchase of the pins could go to support immigration groups. I feel that seeing these on Tucsonans would send a message of support to all of our neighborhoods and to our already overburdened police that we Arizonans do not want to live in a police state.”
Arizona Republic (Editorial): Immigration bill holds high price (April 23, 2010)
“Arizona faces sticker shock and buyer’s remorse if Gov. Jan Brewer signs the immigration bill on her desk. The bill is not an answer to a long-standing failure of the feds to fix the border.”
Arizona Daily Star (Opinion): El estado de la hipocresía (April 23, 2010)
“SAN DIEGO – A fines de los años noventa, empecé a trabajar como redactor de un diario y me mudé a Arizona. Creo, al menos, que era Arizona. El lugar que yo recuerdo se parece muy poco al que voy a describir a continuación.”
Arizona Daily Star: Letters to the Editor (April 23, 2010)
Bill would overload police and courts: Stop passing half-baked laws and start developing well-thought-out plans. The U.S. Border Patrol and ICE need help, but not by tasking police officers with identifying and arresting illegal aliens without any training in determining citizenship or detecting counterfeit documents.”
Immigration bill protests are laughable Re: the April 21 article “200+ gather to push for immigration bill’s veto”: I laughed out loud and scared my backyard birds as I read Brady McCombs’ story about the immigration-bill protesters.
Arizona Daily Star: Letters to the editor (April 24, 2010)
Doesn’t Grijalva represent Arizona? Re: the April 21 article “200+ gather to push for immigration bill’s veto.”: So Rep. Raúl Grijalva thinks that Arizona should be boycotted as a result of trying to control illegal immigration?
Immigration law lacks empathy and decency: An essential quality of a mature person and a civilized society is the ability to empathize. Sadly, Gov. Jan Brewer and the Arizona Legislature – and we who elected them – have failed to live up to this standard in passing the state’s new immigration-enforcement law.
Maybe I should go blond…: As a 30-year proud resident of Arizona, I’m puzzled, saddened and deeply embarrassed by Gov. Brewer’s lousy judgment in signing the immigration bill.
New law is racially motivated: I will only begin to believe that Arizona’s new immigration law is not racially motivated when I have been stopped to make sure I am not an illegal immigrant from Canada or Germany.
Nogales International: Letters to the Editor (April 27, 2010)
The Governor is Wrong on SB 1070: “Arizona Senate Bill 1070 reflects fear that is felt on both sides of this debate. But it also fails to meet one very basic standard, Equal Justice Under Law. In almost seven years working in the criminal justice field, I can speak with first-hand knowledge about what this law will do to those of us in the Hispanic Community regardless of our immigration status.”
Arizona Daily Star: Letters to the editor (April 27, 2010)
Arizona’s immigration law is sick: A question, please: What happens when a Hispanic Arizona state police officer meets a Hispanic Tucson police officer? Who must show their papers first? Stupid? Amen to that!
Let’s all wear yellow stars: I do not want to minimize the Holocaust, but when Gov. Jan Brewer signed this clearly unconstitutional anti-immigration bill, I thought of what the Danes did during World War II when the Nazis ordered their Jews to wear the yellow star.
Profiling inevitable under new law Re: the April 24 article “Brewer signs sweeping immigration measure”: Gov. Jan. Brewer has tried to soften the actual intent of the new Arizona immigration law by stating that “racial profiling is illegal” but isn’t that statement just a little ridiculous in light of the fact that the law requires law enforcement officers to demand an individual’s “documents” if that individual “appears” to be of questionable legality regarding his presence in Arizona. Doesn’t that require “profiling?”
Arizona Republic (Editorial): Law is a plea for U.S. action (April 28, 2010)
“Arizona enacted an ugly and indefensible immigration law. But the new national pastime of slamming Arizona as a replay of the old segregated South is misinformed.”
Nogales International: Letters to the Editor (April 28, 2010)
SB1070 Unconstitutional: “As Governor Brewer put pen to paper enacting SB1070, an entire nation turned their attention to Arizona, remarking on what has gone down as the most infamous piece of legislation to ever come from the Phoenix Statehouse. The passage of this law legitimizes the belief that in the land of the free, some people remain more free than others.”
Arizona Daily Star: Letters to the editor (April 28, 2010)
Legal scholars need to comment on bill: Arizona needs its resident legal scholars from its law schools to weigh in, pro and con, in the print and electronic media on the immigration law’s constitutionality. They have the best platform for this.”
Issue isn’t Mexico’s immigration policy: I question the constitutionality of SB 1070 but I can understand the frustration with our immigration policy, or should I say lack of of a policy, that brought about this bill.
State is taking up a federal responsibility: Hurray for Gov. Jan Brewer. With murders, dumped trash, people and drug trafficking, stash houses and home invasions, something has to be done.
Immigration law changes plans: In a few years when I retire with my very substantial, hard-earned Teamster money, I was planning on moving to Arizona. My mother lives in Sun City West; my mother-in-law lives in Tucson.
Everyone should get their papers ready Re: the April 24 article “Brewer signs sweeping immigration measure”: Gov. Jan Brewer has reminded us that “racial profiling is illegal.”
No one’s ‘legal’ but Native Americans: With the passage of immigration reform, I expect the state of Arizona to become a vast, deserted wasteland.
New law causes economic backlash: Below is a letter I sent to the University of Arizona athletic department: With deep regret I wish to advise you I will not be renewing my Arizona football season pass tickets until such time as the recently signed Arizona immigration bill is overturned.
Don’t blame Grijalva for backlash: If it looks like racism, feels like racism and smells like racism, guess what? It’s racism.”
Arizona Daily Star (Opinion): Immigration law fosters division, triggers opportunities for harassment of all people (April 29, 2010)
“The newly signed immigration law is not about immigration; it is about division. It is a blatant attempt to create an identifiable sub-class made up of the politically dispossessed: The undocumented. But it went too far; its scope is overbroad. In their zeal, the proponents of the law crossed the line. The law affects not only the undocumented but also everyone in the state of Arizona. As a lawyer friend told me, “Hell, I could be from Lithuania.”
Arizona Republic (Editorial): Mexico’s warning overblown, silly (April 30, 2010)
“We stand second to none in opposition to Arizona’s new immigration law. That said, we have to wonder: Don’t our good friends to the south have more important things to worry about than issuing “travel advisories” to Mexican citizens traveling in Arizona?”
Arizona Daily Star: Letters to the editor (April 30, 2010)
Proponents of law send mixed messages: A year ago, I decided to make Tucson my new home. I had in mind gorgeous mountains, beautiful parks, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, art galleries galore, medical care and historic places.
Good points from Garrecht Gassen Re: the April 25 column by Sarah Garrecht Gassen, “Immigration law will prompt the world to ‘profile’ Arizona as racist, backward:” I fully agree with the points made by the author. The new law is worse than racist and backwards. It is also selfish, embarrassing, small-minded and hopefully unconstitutional. Arizona is a grand state in many ways, but won’t be for long if we can’t deal with modern reality in a more enlightened manner.
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Posted on April 13, 2011 by cachocurt
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