L.A. City Council votes to ban travel and future contracts with Arizona because of tough new immigration law

The Los Angeles City Council, protesting Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigration, on Wednesday voted to ban most city travel to Arizona and future contracts with companies in that state.

During a morning-long debate on the resolution, council members compared Arizona’s action to Nazi Germany and the beginning of the Holocaust, as well as the internment and deportation of Japanese Americans during World War II. A new Arizona law, which will take effect July 23, will require police to determine whether people they stop are in the country illegally, which critics say will lead to racial profiling.

“Los Angeles the second-largest city in this country, an immigrant city, an international city. It needs to have its voice heard,’’ said Councilman Ed Reyes, one of the resolution’s sponsors.  “As an American, I cannot go to Arizona today without a passport. If I come across an officer who’s having a bad day and feels that the picture on my ID is not me, I can be … deported, no questions asked. That is not American.’’

The action was approved 13-1, with Councilman Greig Smith casting the sole dissenting vote.

The council’s action fell short of a total boycott or canceling all of the city’s $58 million worth of contracts with Arizona companies. Officials with the Port of Los Angeles and Los Angeles International Airport expressed concern about potential effects on those agencies. The council asked boards overseeing the port, airport and city utilities to review all contracts with ties to Arizona, however.

LAX receives $22 million in revenue from two Arizona-based airlines -- US Airways and Mesa Air. The port relies on three Arizona firms for new, low-emission big rigs, part of the city’s “clean truck’’ program that is expected to reduce truck-related pollution at the port by 80% by 2012.

-- Phil Willon in Los Angeles City Hall

Comments

[Andy]

I applaud you LA, this will send a strong message to all states that are considering adopting a similar disgusting.law.

[Charles J]

Well done! The Council's decision has my full support.

[jacematthew]

Idiots!!! Go Arizona! You don't need this pathetic city anyway!

[Borges]

Nazi Germany and the beginning of the Holocaust, as well as the internment and deportation of Japanese Americans during World War II? For realz? This boycott is more damaging to the businesses In Arizona who more than likely employ "undocumented" workers. LA ought to focus on the fiscal issues we're having. I'm sure those people about to get axed are wondering if more time and effort should have been placed into solving this crisis rather than trying to make a political statement.

[WeroInNM]

How the “Illegal Immigration” issue affects our everyday lives!

As I’ve stated before, I am a proud American Citizen, who has honorably and unselfishly served his country as a Marine for twenty years, like many before me.

Although I am a registered democrat, I have to admit that in the past sixteen months this President, his Administration and allies, with the help of the Main Stream Media, have been systematically eroding our Constitutional rights, which seems to be just fine with the President as evidenced by his numerous deplorable actions that will permanently divide our country to a point of no return.

I also believe that if they are allowed to continue without restraint their actions will more than likely cause civil unrest and/or an uprising, which may be his ultimate goal because it would allow him to declare “Marshal Law,” as a means of completely doing away with our “Constitutional Rights” and ultimately take over as our country’s life-long dictator.

Note: These recent articles and/or blog posts support my statement above-You Decide:

Is Obama fomenting a race war? “Fanning the flames of racial tension in Arizona is deliberate”-Posted on The Washington Times-By Jeffrey T. Kuhner-On April 30, 2010:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/30/is-obama-fomenting-a-race-war/

From One Hispanic to Others — Arizona, You’re Being Had By the Media-Posted on BigJounralism.com-By Alicia Colon-On April 29, 2010:

http://bigjournalism.com/aliciacolon/2010/04/29/from-one-hispanic-to-others-re-arizona-youre-being-had-by-the-media/

I also believe that, as an American Citizen, who also happens to be Hispanic, I have a God given right and/or duty to stand up for and defend those rights given me under our Constitution and have chosen to do this under my “Freedom of Speech Rights” by laying out my numerous concerns as professionally as I can on my blog web site, which I will continue to share with you in the hopes of getting the word out on issues that I feel the Main Stream Media continues to deliberately and blatantly keep us in dark about.

I realize how extremely sensitive the “illegal immigration” issue is in our country simply because it deals with and affects human lives that I know for a fact have been forever oppressed by their country. And, although I know in my heart and soul that we must show some compassion for these individuals, which I do, as I do for many others around the world that live in oppressive regimes, I also find myself to be extremely concerned and disgusted about how our government leaders in Washington have unjustly and unfairly dealt with the issue of “illegal immigration” in our country. I also believe that not every “illegal immigrant,” regardless of what oppressed country they come from, has been treated equally, and, most importantly, their inaction to deal with this sensitive issue has not only hurt and/or destroyed human lives in the past and continues to this date, but has created what I consider to be a grave “security” issue for our country.

My main concern on this issue is one of “homeland and national security,” which has been exacerbated by our country’s 9/11 terrorist attack and truly believe that our government leaders have not done enough to secure our boarders, although our country’s tax payers continue to flip the bill for failed security measures, as evidenced by the recent failed Times Square terrorist plot and Christmas day attempted terrorist airplane attack in Detroit.

And with that being said, what follows is my recent blog post that reveals a letter that I forwarded to one of our City Councilors in 2005 regarding the issues that some of my co-workers and I experienced with un-documented workers (illegal immigrants), along with those employers that hired them, while employed with a State Government Agency and am taking the liberty of sharing it with you as a means of giving you an insight into some of the issues that most of our U.S. Citizens shy away from sharing with anyone, to include their employers, for fear of being labeled as a “racist,” which I find extremely disturbing because we should not have to live and/or work in this environment as American Citizens.

What I find even more deplorable is that some of our City, State and National elected officials seem to deliberately ignore the illegal immigrant issue for fear of being labeled as “racists” and are more concerned about their political careers than taking care of their employees and/or constituents, with the exception of the Governor of Arizona that has recently signed the “Illegal Immigration Law” in her state and I truly admire her for listening to over 70% of her constituents by having the fortitude to deal with the issue, which is more than I can say for some of our elected officials in my state and in Washington-You Decide:

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/how-the-“illegal-immigration”-issue-affects-our-everyday-lives/

“Food For Thought”

“God Bless & Keep Our USA Safe”

Semper Fi!

[JSA26]

OH Boy.

Why do our politician waste their time like this?

I think the Council is afraid this law will work and all the illegal immigrants living in Arizona will move to California.

I hate Arizona in the summer because of the heat, but now I have to schedule a vacation there.

[Steve Seyarto]

Thankfully we have a city council that has time to tackle this very important issue at a time when everything else in LA is perfect.

[Richard Orozco]

It is a sad day when people who are supposed to be our leaders cater to people (regardless how much they ‘want to improve their life style) who have broken our laws. The bottom line is our federal Government with the consent of our local politicians, have failed to enforce the security of our country.
As for me, I shall seek out products made in Arizona. I shall vote against anyone who wants to allow the borders to remain open and who refuses to recognize all people who want to come to our country must do so legally first or face the consequences. This is not a matter of race as the illegal people are of many races and from many countries. This is a matter of obeying our laws first and foremost.

[Captain Howdy]

I find it funny that the LA City Council did not take the same stance when Californians passed Prop 187. To boot no one in the rest of the country wanted to Boycott California. Seems that they should have more to do than worrie about what other states do or do not, they should worry about what is happening in LA.
Speaking of which, if the people of Arizona decise not to travel to California or the Airline companies decide to move out, what will LA do then?
Oh are the Lakers not going to play in Phoenix next week because of this?

[Bob Fox]

Most American citizens favor legal immigration, some type of guest worker program AND a way to make massive cuts in social service costs.

Most Americans are against illegal immigration, the 1, 000 or so that cross the border ILLEGALLY EVERY DAY, Phoenix being the 2nd highest kidnapping capitol of the WORLD, Officers being shot and killed by illegals, daily massive drug shipments, citizens being victims of illegal alien crime, etc. etc.

Law Enforcement Officers will not be doing any type of profiling. That is just an illogical excuse to try to overcome the law. A very large percentage of officers are Hispanic in Arizona.

It is a very emotional issue.

Americans KNOW what is going to happen next with the current insane administration (amnesty for votes).

It is time to end this madness. It will be much easier to make it a Federal Crime for any employer to hire illegals. That law will have to be actively and aggressively enforced. That will cause most of the illegals to go home.

If we do not solve this horrid problem now it will lead to massive race violence in the future. You already have a racist professor from UCLA espousing that the southwest belongs to Mexico!

Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans historically are willing to solve this serious problem.

New movements like www.goooh.com have some massive action momentum that may help.

Most citizens of our country FAVOR much tougher immigration law. Most citizens of Arizona by far favor solving the problem that no one else wants to solve.

I salute Governor Brewer and Senators McCain and Kyl for trying to do the RIGHT thing as judged by the majority of citizens.

Life is full of choices... all choices have consequences.

[Luis Aceves]

Thank you for boycotting our State. You can have all of the illegals and continue to bankrupt your city. As a Hispanic, it is not fair for some to follow the law and the others to disregard our great country and its laws. AZ is also going to boycott your city and state. You have barked at the wrong tree. GAME OVER illegals!

[Richard]

The Los Angeles City Council Need's to focus On the need's of the Nearly Bankrupt City of Los Angeles BUT NO WHAT'S MORE IMPORTANT TO THEM ? THE OWN POLITICAL AGENDA PERIOD AND FOR THE CITIZEN'S OF LOS ANGELES THEY CAN CARE LESS AND THAT'S THE TRUTH...

[J]

Idiots. Every poll from local, region, state, and nationwide has indicated that the populace support the Arizona law. The boycotts are counterproductive and against the will of the people.

[bob]

Oh no and Nevada decided that california can't have its water anymore... that's a fair trade. L.A. is the worst city in this country too, how come they don't mention that I wonder? All of our cities are immigrant cities, but they're LEGAL!

[Lawless]

fools!

With this vote, you are saying YES to MORE: human trafficing, drug trafficing, rape of non-mexican immigrant women (60% are raped on their way through Mexico), lower wages for U.S. citizens, bankrupting the educational system, bankrupting the medical system, undermining the LAW and constitution!!

[yoga2010]

Nazi Germany, LA city council? Really? You do a disservice to the millions that suffered and died horribly. I'm boycotting the city of LA.

[mark]

Boy am I glad I moved away from Los Angeles.

[Rosee]

Councilman Reyes is a prime example of a ignorant person spreading untruths . For him to spread such information and scare the population is outrageous . A passport to Arizona and a cop having a bad day...GIVE ME A BREAK Reyes, you should be ASHAMED of yourself for spreading fear!

And to compare this with Nazi German and the Holocaust..HOW DARE YOU!

You can definitely see who is running this city council / city...we didn't have the traditional St. Patrick's Day march / celebration...but they sure found the money for Fiesta Broadway...hmmmmm

[tw]

So Dramatic....LA City Council...now promoting illegal aliens....not surprising,
bunch of idiots...

[Andy]

Well,

I just decided to cancel all my trips to LA for the summer to see my Dodgers and Lakers play. Guess I'll be heading up to San Francisco to see any future games. Too bad for LA and it's economy. I may be only one, but there are many behind me that think and will do the same.

We need to follow Arizona's lead and do the same. Get your head out LA and California. The time is now.

[dr]

council members compared Arizona’s action to Nazi Germany and the beginning of the Holocaust, as well as the internment and deportation of Japanese Americans during World War II.

whaaaat? are you serious? we just want to get the illegals out. i say its time to follow arizona's example. when people stop listening, i guess you just have to do something so crazy to let people know where the problem really is, ILLEGALS!

[Bill]

said Councilman Ed Reyes,

“As an American, I cannot go to Arizona today without a passport. If I come across an officer who’s having a bad day and feels that the picture on my ID is not me, I can be … deported, no questions asked. That is not American.’’

What a liar! Maybe Mr.Reyes and the L.A. city council will buy all the illegals in Az, bus tickets for L.A.

[Nero's Fiddle]

I am scared for you, Los Angeles. With so-called leaders like these, who needs village idiots?

[Chris]

Terrific. Our wonderful city council doing the really important work.

Siggggh.

[XM]

This Boycott would be effective, if (1) Arizona had no other places to conduct business with (2) LA or CA in general was some grand old place to establish a business. A state where businesses exodus is far greater than influx has no upper hand in this kind of theatrics.

SHOCKINGLY, the boycott falls short of voiding existing contracts with Arizona. Meaning LA will still gobble away at profits coming from Arizona, while killing future jobs that might have been created with business transactions with that state.

Oh, what courage, brave sirs. And to compare this with Japanese internment and Nazi holocaust, such bold proclmations.