By Connor Adams Sheets
State Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing) has joined with the hundreds of lawmakers and officials countrywide who are taking a variety of measures to voice their disapproval of Arizona’s new immigration law.
She called last week on all New York residents to pledge not to participate in the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game unless it is moved out of the Grand Canyon State or the law is repealed before the game takes place.
“I call upon every baseball fan to stand together in solidarity to send a crystal clear message that our nation will not tolerate anti-immigrant sentiments,” Meng said.
The legislation, which has reignited the flames of the immigration debate in states across the nation, allows authorities to demand that any person they suspect of being an illegal immigrant present proof they are in the United States legally, whether or not they are being charged with a crime.
Since its passing last month, the law has inspired vociferous opposition by liberals and immigrants’ rights advocates, as well as the introduction of copycat bills in statehouses from Minnesota to Texas.
“Arizona has seemed to have forgotten that our great country was built on the backs of hardworking immigrants,” Meng said. “Therefore it is now our duty as New Yorkers to remind them that without immigrants, New York wouldn’t exist, the United States of America would not exist.”
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
