Friday, March 18, 2011

Arizona Senate Defeats Citizenship Measure Along With Four Other State Immigration Bills

Chamber of Commerce and business leaders urged Republican legislators not to pass state immigration measures because it would contribute to ailing economy.

By H. Nelson Goodson
March 18, 2011

Phoenix, Arizona - On Thursday, the Arizona Senate defeated the U.S. Citizenship measure that would strip automatic citizenship from children born in the state by undocumented parents. The Senate also defeated four other anti-immigrant measures dealing with public services, identifying undocumented students in public schools, raisng university tuition for students not legally in the U.S., driving violations and health care.
The Senate was split on passing the immigration enforcement bills. Republicans joined with Democrats to defeat the bills.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce along with other business leaders urged legislators to vote against the bills because it would contribute to the ailing economy.
Senator Russell Pierce (R) failed to convince legislators to approve the measures. Pierce sponsored and led the push to pass SB 1070, which has been stalled in federal court. A judge blocked most to the major provisions of SB 1070 making it useless. The outcome of the case is still pending.
Last year, when legislators passed the SB 1070 bill to allow police to question and detain suspected immigrants sparked state and national boycotts against the state. Arizona is facing a deficit of more than $32 billion.

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