Letter to the Editor: MUL says Arizona Immigration Reform Law Raises Civil Rights Concerns

To the Editor:

The Milwaukee Urban League does not support the Arizona Reform Law. We feel that it will not have any effect on the problem that was designed to fix.

In addition, we are very concerned that many innocent legal residents of Arizona will be venerable to harassment, detentions and possibly jail times based on nothing more than the perception of their ethnicity. Civil Rights organizations, and those who want to ensure that our civil liberties are protected, have worked hard to end racial profiling and practices that support racial profiling. The Arizona Immigration Law is an enormous setback to the progress that has been made and sends a hostile message to the thousands of law-abiding people of color in Arizona.

We do not support a boycott of the State of Arizona, however, we urge the Governor, and Arizona lawmakers, to rescind or overturn this onerous law and work on the development of immigration reform that does not infringe on its citizens’ civil rights.

Ralph E. Hollmon

President and CEO

Milwaukee Urban League