Supervisors today showed lacking support to even consider a
resolution denouncing Arizona’s new immigration law after one board
member had requested they officially condemn it.
Supervisors today showed lacking support to even consider a resolution denouncing Arizona’s new immigration law after one board member had requested they officially condemn it.
It came about because the San Benito County Latino Legal Professionals and Attorney’s Association drafted and signed a resolution against the law that it planned to present to the county board today. The group would have to ask supervisors, during public comment, to place it on a future agenda.
That resolution describes the law as forcing law enforcement officers to act in racial and cultural profiling.
After the lawyers group did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, Supervisor Margie Barrios asked fellow board members to support consideration of the same resolution. With a verbal survey of board members, though, Barrios was the only supervisor in support of placing it on an agenda. There must be two supervisors in approval of agendizing a proposed resolution.
Barrios said she believes the lawyers group did not show up because its members “may have known ahead of time” there was not the necessary support to move it forward. She proposed the same idea – noting how some locals believe it “has nothing to do with us” – because she feels “very strongly that it has everything to do with us.”
Barrios noted how many people in the area migrate for agriculture and go to Arizona for vacation. She thinks the federal government should step in and take action because it should oversee immigration issues.
“I just feel it is more a human and civil rights action that is not fair,” Barrios said.
The lawyers group resolution stated that the effect of the Arizona law “will be a curtailment of meaningful interaction between law enforcement, victims of crime, and witnesses within the Latino community.”
Supervisor Reb Monaco, the board chairman, had noted during discussion that the board historically had not taken stances on issues outside the state.
