Khamm·net

With national attention on Arizona, you are likely well aware that my state is on the verge of officially declaring war on poor, tired, huddled masses longing to be free. I’m sharing my letter to Governor Brewer below.

Governor Brewer,

I write to you today to express my grave concerns for all current and future citizens of the great state of Arizona. SB 1070, the so-called “safe neighborhoods; immigration; law enforcement” will do nothing to improve the conditions it sets out to. It, in fact, will lead to a rise in unsafe neighborhoods, a more fractured immigration system, and extremely strained local law enforcement agencies.

Neighborhoods will become more unsafe due to the perpetuation of fear that this bill causes. In Maricopa County, neighborhoods have borne witness to these tactics already. The community of Guadalupe has been made no safer due to MCSO’s checkpoints on its citizens. US Citizens across our state feel intimidated. Last week Tucson resident Lynda Cruz came across coordinated ICE raids and had this to say of her experience, “I have never seen anything like this before. Men with AK-47s and black masks covering them. I was threatened by an ICE agent that said I would be arrested if I interfered in any way.” This type of environment is standing to make our state extremely detrimental to our commerce ability and general economy. Arizona’s largest export market internationally is Mexico. Our tourism industry relies heavily on tourist from Mexico coming to Arizona to spend their pesos.

Additionally, this bill fails to provide any guidance on our broken immigration system. The US is currently home to approximately 11 million illegal immigrants; this bill does little to address how we are going to realistically handle such a large volume of people. Immigration is a federal matter. Our state income taxes should not be misdirected at addressing this issue. Arizona cannot and should not act independently when it comes to an issue that is national in scope.

Finally this bill does not support improvement in law enforcement. By directing state, and local law enforcement agencies to direct limited man power and man hours to checking documents we are going to be reducing our ability to ensure the public’s safety from people who are committing violent and serious crimes in our communities.

I ask you to veto this bill, do not allow our state legislator to use frustration at a difficult and unfair situation to turn back the clock 50 years on civil rights progress.

Thank you,
Khamis Hammoudeh
Citizen of the State of Arizona