Today the San Francisco Board of Supervisors pushed for a boycott of Arizona and its businesses based there, to protest the new immigration law signed last Friday. The new immigration law requires state and local law enforcement to question individuals about their immigration status if the officer has a "reasonable suspicion" that they are undocumented. An individual who cannot provide proof of legal status would be subject to arrest. The new law essentially compels law enforcement to conduct racial profiling of all people in the state, and will lead to people being questioned and detained for looking foreign.
In opposition to the new law, the San Francisco Board of supervisors is calling for San Francisco to end any and all contracts with Arizona-based companies and to stop, doing business with the state. Supervisor David Campos told a City Hall rally, "We want to send a message. . . . There are consequences when you target a whole people." City Attorney Dennis Herrera also called for a wide-ranging boycott of Arizona, and pledged to have attorneys in his office work with the city to identify contracts with Arizona companies and help break those contracts where possible.
San Francisco is not the one calling for a boycott. Within hours of the new law being signed, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Board of Governors voted to move the Association's Fall 2010 conference, which was to be held in Arizona. AILA's Board President explained that AILA could not spend its funds in a state that dehumanizes the very people that many AILA members represent.