Immigration a Big Issue in Arizona State Senate Race

By: Amy Crawford 6:04 am

Russell Pearce
Arizona State Rep. Russell Pearce (AP Photo)

Illegal immigration may have fallen from the national spotlight during this election season, but in some places it’s still a big local issue, as News 21 found in Pennsylvania. Now, according to the East Valley Tribune, the Republican primary candidates in a state Senate race in Mesa, Ariz., are arguing over illegal immigration.

The favorite in the race, State Rep. Russell Pearce, wrote Arizona’s law sanctioning employers who hire illegal immigrants. He also supports English as an official language and wants to keep the children of illegal immigrants from attending public schools.

His opponent, Kevin Gibbons, says Pearce is too tough on illegal immigration and that his employer sanctions law hurts businesses. Businesses and farmers agree, and they are backing Gibbons.

Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix, is a long-time immigration hot spot. It is the territory of notorious Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who prides himself on arresting illegal immigrants. In recent years, Arizona has passed a number of state laws and referendums designed to combat illegal immigration. See News 21’s report on voter disenfranchisement for more.

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This entry was written by Amy Crawford, posted on August 19, 2008 at 6:04 am, filed under Immigration: New Voters, Old Fears and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

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    Arrest, incarceration, DEPORTATION...si se puede!!!
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    Hi Zeezil, I assume you're a Pearce supporter? Why is illegal immigration an important issue for you?
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    I hope Pearce wins! Would hate to see AZ end up like CA with 23 Billion in debt and most of it due to illegals and their expenses. Illegal immigration from Mexico has nothing to do with "immigrants" but everything to do with the corrupt wealthy in Mexico wanting to keep all of the wealth in a few top "families" hands. Mexico is an oil rich country that owns its oil. No Mobil Oil or Chevron here - the government owns all of the proceeds for the oil they sell. Let's see over $100 a barrel for how long now?Wonder what the profits they are making look like? Oh, well they still push their poor (who also just happen to be mostly indian/spanish vs european spanish - as there is a class system in Mexico but we aren't suppose to find that out) and uneducated to America so that Americans can subsidize Mexico to the tune of 26 BILLION in remitances (money leaving the American economy) while also paying out billions in free care and education to their citizens (hence we are the "enablers") so that Mexico / wealthy Mexicans are not held accountable for their actions and get off scott free!
    Really people that think this has to do with immigration need to educate themselves.
    Total annual cost of illegals on taxpayers exceeds $1 billion LA County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich has announced that a new report shows illegal aliens and their families in Los Angeles County collected over $35 million in welfare and food stamp allocations in July. In the report, illegals are said to have collected nearly $20 million in welfare assistance for July 2007 and an additional $15 million in monthly food stamp allocations for an estimated annual cost of $440 million. “Illegal immigration continues to have a devastating impact on Los Angeles County taxpayers,”said Antonovich. “In addition to $220 million for public safety and $400 million for healthcare, the $440 million in welfare allocations bring the total cost to County taxpayers that exceeds $1 billion a year -- this does not include the skyrocketing cost of education.”
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    Why cannot the news agencies report the truth of this race. Kevin Gibbons is an immigration atty and furthermore the Brother-in-law of McCain Amnesty lieutenant congressman Jeff Flake. I have never seena more blatant dishonest campaign sign than Kevin Gibbons roadside signs that state "Secure the Border " Only a complete fool would believe Kevin Gibbons slogan. We are blessed to have Russell Pearce spearheading legislation to bring sanity back to fight the blind eye illegal invasion policy of the Immigration lobby controlled politicians. We cannot afford this. Anyone who believes the thousands of illegals coming in here daily are all picking fruit and lettuce are delusional.
 
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