Arizona is one of the most hostile environments for immigrants in the nation.
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PHOENIX, Arizona., Posted July 29, 2010 — A judge has blocked for now parts of a controversial law that made it a state crime for a person to be an undocumented immigrant in Arizona. The news brought relief to thousands of families who were waiting until the last minute to decide whether to leave the state. But the ruling won’t change what has made Arizona one of the most hostile environments for immigrants in the nation.
At the heart of SB 1070 is a concept that has been the cornerstone for a slew of laws enacted over the years, making life harder and harder for immigrants.
It’s called attrition through enforcement.
The preamble of SB 1070 states the concept clearly: “The legislature finds that there is a compelling interest in the cooperative enforcement of federal immigration laws throughout all of Arizona. The legislature declares that the intent of this act is to make attrition through enforcement the public policy of all state and local government agencies in Arizona.”
The very definition of attrition is a wearing down or weakening of resistance. GOP State Senator Russell Pearce, the mastermind behind SB 1070, has never made it a secret that this was his goal: To make the lives of undocumented immigrants in Arizona so difficult that they would have no other choice but to leave.
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