Bloomberg
By James Nash
March 21, 2016
The
presidential race is reopening old wounds among Arizona Republicans who
clashed over the tough immigration law six years ago that sparked
protests and boycotts and ended up costing the
state an estimated $100 million in revenue.
While
campaigning across Arizona over the weekend, businessman Donald Trump
and Texas Senator Ted Cruz led the charge for deporting more than 11
million undocumented immigrants, and the billionaire
front-runner drew cheers for his proposal to build a wall along the
U.S.-Mexico border.
For
many in Arizona’s Republican business community, the rhetoric is an
unwelcome return to the state’s own 2010 feud over a law requiring
police to check the citizenship of those they suspected
of being in the country illegally. Stung by the loss of conventions,
tourists and contracts worth at least $100 million that resulted from a
nationwide boycott in response to the law's passage, more than 40
business leaders urged Arizona Republicans to back
off the immigration issue in 2011.
"I
want people to know that we here in Arizona are for legal immigration,"
said Tucson car dealer Jim Click, a Republican donor who signed the
2011 letter to legislative leaders. "These people
are running for president. They know we’re not going to deport 10
million illegal immigrants."
While
the U.S. Supreme Court overturned much of SB 1070, Arizona's
controversial law, in 2012, saying immigration was a federal matter, the
debate over immigration remains. Arizona, the 14th
most populous state, has about 300,000 undocumented immigrants, the
ninth-largest population in the country, according to the Pew Hispanic
Center in a November 2014 report.
Immigrants
play an important role in Arizona’s economy, said Glenn Hamer,
president of the state Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He said Arizona
businesses, particularly construction firms,
are counting on the next president to lead on devising a pathway to
legal status for those undocumented immigrants currently in the country.
Yet the current rhetoric from the Republican presidential candidates
isn’t encouraging.
"We
desperately need to work out the immigration issues at the federal
level," Hamer said. "This campaign probably makes it harder, but let’s
see what happens."
The
presidential race is bringing out “echoes and shadows” of Arizona’s old
controversies, said Joseph Garcia, executive director of Morrison
Institute’s Latino Public Policy Center at Arizona
State University. “It’s not who we are anymore.” He said the debate
isn’t even rooted in reality, since more people have emigrated south to
Mexico than to the U.S. since 2007.
As
they battle for votes ahead of Tuesday's Arizona primary, Trump and
Cruz routinely describe undocumented immigrants as both a national
security and economic problem.
"My
number one priority is protecting hardworking taxpayers, protecting
American citizens and when you have a policy that allows 12 million
people to come to this country illegally, it takes
away jobs from millions of Americans and it drives down wages for
everyone," Cruz said in response to a question in Peoria, Arizona,
Sunday.
Trump
campaigned near Phoenix Saturday with former Arizona Governor Jan
Brewer, who signed the 2010 law, and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio,
one of its most vocal backers. Thousands cheered
as Trump said the U.S. has a “big, big problem” with illegal
immigration and vowed to build a border wall. Colleen Hamel, a
59-year-old Fountain Hills environmental engineer, wore a T-shirt with
an illustration of Trump in front of a wall evoking Pink Floyd’s
1970s classic album, “The Wall.”
Hamel
said Republican elites trot out the immigration issue to get votes and
ignore it after they’re elected. Only Trump, she said, is serious about
doing something.
“If you’re here illegally, you need to go,” Hamel said.
Ohio
Governor John Kasich, who is not campaigning in Arizona in his
presidential bid, has advocated for a path to legal status for
nonviolent undocumented immigrants who pay a fine and back
taxes. In a presidential debate in February, he said deporting more
than 11 million illegal immigrants “is not going to happen.”
Undocumented
immigrants work disproportionately in agriculture, construction and
service jobs, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, and account for more
than 5 percent of the U.S. labor
force. In Arizona, undocumented laborers helped build homes and
infrastructure during the boom years of the early 2000s, said James
Kuliesh, executive director of the Tucson-based Alliance of Construction
Trades. The downturn since then has led to many immigrants
being out of work, said Kuliesh, who added that many of his members
support Trump.
The
liberal Center for American Progress said in 2010 that the boycott had
cost the state economy as much as $141 million in lost revenue,
including $45 million in the lodging industry. In
their 2011 letter, Click and other business leaders acknowledged that
the boycott had cost Arizona tourists, contracts and conventions, though
they did not estimate the dollar value.
C.A.
Howlett, a partner at a Scottsdale private-equity firm and former state
co-chairman for Jeb Bush, said Trump and Cruz's positions on
immigration are so problematic that he can’t back
either in the primary. Instead, Howlett said he’s focused on
re-electing Senator John McCain, whose own views on immigration have
drawn a challenge from the right. McCain, in a statement from
spokeswoman Lorna Romero, said the current "rhetoric of a few
candidates”
doesn’t reflect the Republican Party.
Howlett,
72, said he’d back the Republican nominee but decried how immigration
was being used as a “wedge issue” in Arizona and the national campaign.
“I
do believe that Arizona is still living up to some of its reputation
from nearly a decade ago when we had some legislation passed here that
was harsh on immigrants and the Hispanic community,”
Howlett said. “Whoever is elected, I believe, will have to be realistic
after taking office.”
Still,
immigration isn’t a make-or-break issue for some Arizona Republicans
who disagree with Trump and Cruz’s positions. Ed Robson, a builder of
resort communities who has donated more than
$600,000 to Republican causes and candidates including McCain, Rubio,
and George W. and Jeb Bush, said he’s now standing with the New York
billionaire. Like Click, Robson, 85, has hosted George H.W. Bush in his
Arizona home.
Though
Robson differs with Trump on immigration—the homebuilder favors a path
to legal status over mass deportations—he said he trusts Trump on issues
of national security and the economy.
“I like Trump’s message,” Robson said. “As far as I’m concerned, Washington is broken.”
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