Immigrant advocates will protest Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s visit to Boston this weekend for the National Governors Association meeting. Brewer recently signed Arizona’s controversial immigration law.
“Of course many people on the East Coast are outraged at Arizona’s legislation but they don’t know what they can do to stop it, Arizona seems so far away,” Jennifer Zaldana of the ANSWER Coalition said. “But this weekend Arizona is essentially coming to us.”
Fifty immigrant and civil rights groups will rally in Copley Square at noon on Saturday.
Rep. Jeff Perry — who supports Arizona’s law — said protesters should redirect their energy toward Washington’s failures to enforce federal immigration laws.
“Because the federal government dropped the ball, the burden is on states to figure it out for themselves,” said Perry, who added that his own immigration amendment was watered down before being tacked onto the state budget last week. “It’s politically motivated to protest a Republican governor and be silent on criticism of President Obama.”
Perry was shocked that the U.S. Department of Justice asked for an injunction on Tuesday to prevent Arizona’s law from taking effect later this month.
“I get it, I get that liberals don’t have a problem with illegal immigrants getting benefits or a porous border and displacing American citizens here legally working,” Perry said.
Zaldana said the Justice Department’s lawsuit doesn’t go far enough but still “gets us more revved up to keep going.”
