Turning up the heat on immigration

Gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis is on to something.

Forget the nuanced arguments, the hand-wringing over what hasn’t been done, who’s to blame, or how one might ‘understand’ both side of the debate relating to Arizona’s new immigration law.
The litmus test is straightforward, particularly for those of us in the business community: Will you favor similar legislation if and when it’s brought to a vote here, in Colorado?

Yes or no.

This week, McInnis suggested Colorado should consider similar, tougher immigration legislation. We’d like to hear from you. We’ll publish what we receive online in ColoradoBiz Update or in the print version of the magazine in July – an issue that every year focuses on issues relating to the minority-owned business community.

There’s one caveat: If you weigh-in — and we hope you do — provide your name and that of your company. No anonymous submissions. No nameless threats to cancel a subscription or boycott a business or disparage a public official.

Follow Mr. McInnis’s lead.

Take responsibility for your opinion – represent your brand. In this case make an argument that you and your company are willing to stand by in public.

The ColoradoBiz editorial board will do the same.

Personally, I abhor the law. I’m not willing to sacrifice the dignity of an entire ethnic segment of our country – a community that in part defines what it now means to be an American – because of the inaction of our democracy. The first citizen to be profiled and asked for papers under this law will be an historic figure – to Arizona’s lasting ignominy.

Some Arizonans rightly believe they’ve been forced to act on the issue because federal lawmakers won’t. Will it force elected officials to pass meaningful immigration reform? Likely not, but it will demonstrate that grandstanding in lieu of compromise can have implications – in this case primarily for those citizens who’ll be asked to produce their papers to prove, and this gets me, that they’re legitimate Americans.

Arizona Senate Bill 1070 may also be a jobs-killer and revenue damper. Will you run the same risk as a business owner to enact a similar bill here? I know many of you would, though I’ve yet to read an opinion piece by a bank president or CEO, a real-estate developer, a prominent retailer, a resort or tourism manager – a chamber of commerce – or frankly any prominent businessperson promoting the law.

If you’ve read one, send it to me — along with your own thoughts on why Colorado should or should not do the same.

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