Coachella Valley Could Feel Ripple Effects Of Arizona Immigration Law
Arizona’s most recent anti-immigration bill will likely have a huge effect on the Coachella Valley. The bill signed into law by Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer requires local police to check the immigration stauts of anyone suspected of not having proper documention. Experts expect the Coachella Valley could see a big population boom because of the law.
Karan Kler, a lawyer accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals is already starting to field phone calls from undocumented immigrants living in Arizona. Kler says, “The tremendous calls we’ve been fielding are asking what is a sanctuary, San Francisco and Coachella are santuary cities, Coachella mostly for It’s quasi enforcement. The influx of them moving from Arizona to California wont likely start until Summer when the new Arizona law will be enforced by local police officers and deputies. Cities within the Coachella Valley are the largest near the Arizona border after Blythe.
Opponents of Arizona’s new immigration law are raising their voices. Many of the bill’s adversaries are from California. Congresswoman Barbara Lee from California says, “Requiring people to carry papers to prove their status harkens back to Jim Crow or apartheid in South Africa”
Two decades ago when Arizona wouldn’t honor the Martin Luther King holiday it cost the state 170 conventions and the NFL Super Bowl. Now cities across California are intensifying the pressure on Arizona. The calls for boycots are coming from Sacramento to Los Angeles. California has been down this road before. In 1994 California voters passed Proposition 187. It was a law cutting off social services, healthcare and public education to illegal immigrants. It was later found unconstitutional by a Federal Court.
The Arizona law will likely be challenged in court. If it is found constitutional and enforced, experts say we’ll likely see the influx starting this Summer.
