“This bill would erode trust between law enforcement and Arizona’s immigrant community and create unnecessary disruption to the workforce when employers are facing an extreme labor shortage,” Arizona leaders said in a LETTER
PHOENIX – Today American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC) Action delivered a letter to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, Arizona State Senate President Karen Fann and Arizona House Speaker Russell Bowers signed by more than 60 prominent Arizona business, community and faith leaders urging them to oppose HB 2326, an anti-immigrant proposal that would wreak havoc on the lives of Arizona’s immigrants, make the streets less safe for all Arizonans and hinder the state’s economic recovery efforts.
“Arizona voters soundly rejected the politics of fear and demagoguery. Arizonans voted out former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and “un-elected” Sen. President Russell Pearce, the author of S.B. 1070,” said Bob Worsley, former Arizona Republican State Senator, “We should not go backwards as a state.”.
The letter (full text below) enumerated the ways this bill would endanger Arizona’s immigrant communities, harm public safety, and hurt Arizona’s economic recovery.
“HB 2326 creates an open-access database in Arizona with mugshots and personal information of immigrants and encourages vigilantes to target immigrant communities,” the letter said. “These sorts of “legal vigilantes” will undoubtedly lead to false identification, racial profiling, and harrassment. Faulty information in the database will result in numerous lawsuits by immigrants falsely profiled. Overall this will create a climate of vigilantism and fear, destroying trust between law enforcement and many communities…By encouraging “legal immigration vigilantes” HB 2326 poses a danger for ALL Arizonans.”
Prominent signatories include ABIC co-chair, founder of Sky Mall, and former AZ Republican state Senator Bob Worsley, Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce CEO Monica Villalobos, Sundt Construction CEO Mike Hoover, Local First Arizona Founder Kimber Lanning, and Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rob Elias.
FULL LETTER
Dear Governor Doug Ducey, Senate President Karen Fann, and House Speaker Russell Bowers,
As Arizona business, faith, and civic leaders, we strongly urge you to oppose Arizona House Bill 2326. This bill would erode trust between law enforcement and Arizona’s immigrant community and create unnecessary disruption to the workforce when employers are facing an extreme labor shortage.
HB 2326 creates an open-access database in Arizona with mugshots and personal information of immigrants and encourages vigilantes to target immigrant communities. These sorts of “legal vigilantes” will undoubtedly lead to false identification, racial profiling, and harrassment. Faulty information in the database will result in numerous lawsuits by immigrants falsely profiled. Overall this will create a climate of vigilantism and fear, destroying trust between law enforcement and many communities.
In Arizona, nearly 1 million immigrants comprise 13 percent of our state’s population. The U.S.-born children of immigrants add many more to this group of Arizona residents who can be targeted. And as everyone knows, immigration law is complex. A single family can have people with five different legal statuses, and in-between legal status.This includes Dreamers facing delays in their DACA renewals, Afghan and Ukrainian refugees in the process of applying for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and others in a state of limbo due to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ backlogs.
By encouraging “legal immigration vigilantes” HB 2326 poses a danger for ALL Arizonans. The core duty of local police is community safety, not federal immigration enforcement. Immigrants are more likely to report crime or come forward as witnesses to crimes when they are not afraid. HB 2326 would engender a climate of fear that would erode those relationships. Crime will go unreported and witnesses will stay in the shadows, endangering the lives of all Arizonans. Arizona voters soundly rejected former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and “un-elected” Sen. President Russell Pearce, the author of S.B. 1070. We should not go backwards as a state. As Arizonans, voters have already made clear this goes against the values we hold dear.
HB 2326 would also damage our state’s economy by hamstringing Arizona’s entrepreneurs struggling to keep their businesses staffed, when economic recovery should be our chief priority. One in six Arizona workers is an immigrant. Nearly 20 percent of our state is over the age of 65 and being cared for by immigrants who comprise 25 percent of our home health aides and 13 percent of our nurses. Additionally, over half of our state’s maids and housekeepers are immigrants helping generate our tourism industry $2.7 billion in annual state tax revenue which provides an annual tax savings of $986 for every Arizona household. Upending immigrant lives upends Arizona’s workforce, a dire consequence no business owner wants.
Finally, HB 2326 proposes a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist. Local police already communicate with federal immigration agents and honor federal immigration detainers sanctioned by a judge. This measure does nothing more than terrorize immigrants in our communities, making ALL Arizonans less safe and hurt our economy.
We implore our elected officials to spare Arizona’s immigrants from this harassment and spare Arizona the shameful blight this will place on our state’s economy, community safety, and reputation.
Sincerely,
- Senator Bob Worsley, ABIC co-chair, founder of Sky Mall, and former AZ Republican state Senator
- Kimber Lanning, Founder, Local First Arizona
- John W. Graham, Chairman, & CEO of Sunbelt Holdings
- Steve Chanen, President & CEO, Chanen Construction Company, Inc.
- Heidi Kimball, Senior Vice President, Sunbelt Holdings
- Phil Francis, Former Chairman & CEO, PetSmart
- Juanita Francis, RN, Community Volunteer
- Monica Villalobos, CEO, Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- LeRoy Cavazos-Reyna, Vice President of Government and International Affairs, US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- Irayda Flores, Owner, Pescaderia el Puerto de Guaymas, Arizona
- Lisa Urias, President & CEO, Urías communications
- Mike Hoover, CEO, Sundt Construction
- Tom Kelly, Former CEO, Aetna Medicaid
- Max Gonzales, Executive Vice President of Strategy, Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC)
- Joseph Garcia, Director of Public Policy, Chicanos Por La Causa, (CPLC)
- Civia Tamarkin, President, National Council of Jewish Women – Arizona
- Doug Pruitt, Retired President & CEO, Sundt Construction
- Rob Elias, President and CEO, Tucson Hispanic Chamber
- Adam Goodman, CEO, Goodmans Interior Structures
- James Christensen, President and CEO, Gateway Bank
- Phil Austin, Vice Chairman of the East Valley Chamber of Commerce, President of the Latino PAC del Rio Salado
- Enrique Franco, Arizona Sonora International Services
- Elizabeth Salazar, Arizona Policy Advisor, UnidosUS
- William Joshua Nuñez, Esq., Founding Attorney, Nuñez Law firm
- Angela Hughey, President, ONE Community
- Tyler Montague, President, Public Integrity Alliance
- Carlos Velasco, Founder and CEO, Novle
- Lori Shepherd, Executive Director, Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center
- Carol Consalvo,, Sr. Vice President of Policy & Advocacy, National Council of Jewish Women Arizona
- Joy Rodino, National Council of Jewish Women
- Azza Abuseif, Executive Director, CAIR-Arizona
- Martha Seaman, Clergy Co-Chair, Arizona Interfaith Network
- Rock Fremont, Clergy Co-Chair, Arizona Interfaith Network
- Petra Falcon, Executive Director, Promise Arizona
- Alejandra Gomez, Co-Executive Director, Living United for Change in Arizona – LUCHA
- Tomas Robles, Co-Executive Director, Living United for Change in Arizona – LUCHA
- Paul Rockower, Executive Director, Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix
- Tammy Gillies, Regional Director, Anti-Defamation League
- Stephanie Parra, Executive Director, ALL In Education
- Maurice Goldman, Chair, Jewish Community Relations Council of Southern Arizona
- Sean Preuss, The Perfect Workout, Phoenix
- Rebecca Shi, Executive Director, ABIC Action
- Esther Durán Lumm, Co-chair, Uncage & Reunite Families Coalition
- Gayle Shanks, Co-Owner, Changing Hands Bookstore
- Bob Sommer, Co-Owner, Changing Hands Bookstore
- Cindy Dach, Co-Owner, Changing Hands Bookstore
- Linda Norquist, President, 2640 Media
- Susan Udall
- David Udall
- Carmen Garcia, Owner, BMS of Arizona Corporation
- Rabbi Debbie Stiel, Phoenix
- Rabbi Robert Kravitz, Scottsdale
- Tom Galbraith, Attorney, Phoenix
- Sarah Webb, Assistant Director of Advocacy and Co-Founder, Their Story Our Story
- Hayley M. Smith, CEO, Lifting Hands International
- Pat Stoneburner, Mesa
- Tamora Muir, Tucson
- Nancy Wellmeier, Volunteer, Mission of Mercy
- Donald Schon, MD, FACP
- Carolyn O’Connor, CCMJ, Mesa
- Prosper Ishimwe, Manager, Local First Arizona
- Dianne Post, Phoenix
- Lulu O’Meara, Scottsdale
- Alan Tavassoli, Attorney, Phoenix
- Thomas Barr, Vice President of Business Development, Local First Arizona
- Christy Bishop, Program Lead, Newcomer Community Center; Lifting Hands International
- Deborah Rosen, Teacher, Roosevelt School District #66, Mesa
- Jaranie Rojas, Local First Arizona
- Brian Hertz, Assistant Director, American Jewish Committee – Los Angeles
- Victor Aronow, Tempe
- Kay Baldwin, Apache Junction
- Angela Bolyard, Mesa
- Alina Meraz Douglas, Gilbert
- Patricia Brown, Oro Valley
- Eugene Burdick, Mesa
- Laura Clement, English Teacher and Coach, Mesa
- Beatriz Antonia Cortez, San Tan Valley
- Mary Dominis, Teacher, Tempe
- Mary Koszarek, Mesa
- Alice Rhonda L Santoro, Notary Public, and Michael Santoro, Software Engineer, Anthem
- Joan Dupnik, Associate, CSJ, Phoenix
ABOUT
ABIC Action is the political arm of the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC), a bipartisan coalition of over 1,200+ CEOs, business owners, and trade associations across 16 mostly red and purple states. ABIC Action promotes common sense immigration reform that advances economic competitiveness, provides companies with both the high-skilled and low-skilled talent they need, and allows the integration of immigrants into our economy as consumers, workers, entrepreneurs, and citizens.