Proposition 200, an Arizona state referendum passed in November 2004 with 56% of the vote, requires individuals to produce proof of citizenship before they may register to vote or apply for public benefits in Arizona. The proposition also makes it a misdemeanor for public officials to fail to report persons unable to produce documentation of citizenship who apply for these benefits, and allows citizens who believe that public officials have given undocumented persons benefits to sue for remedies. Authors of the ballot measure, the Protect Arizona Now committee, wrote it because of their concerns that public services to immigrants from neighboring Mexico, many of whom are illegal immigrants, were too costly.
Protect Arizona Now
The Protect Arizona Now committee was formed by Kathy McKee and Rusty Childress , who became its chair and treasurer respectively. The PAN National Advisory Board was chaired by Dr. Virginia Abernethy, and included Dr. David Pimentel and Marvin Gregory .
Opponents criticized it as being anti-immigrant, and consider it to be reminiscent of California's 1994 Proposition 187, which was passed by the electorate but was subsequently voided by United States federal courts.
On July 5, 2004, PAN submitted 190,887 signatures to the Arizona Secretary of State's office, surprising critics who had believed organizers would not be able to garner enough signatures before the deadline. The majority of those signatures were gathered in an independent effort underwritten by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). A counter-organization, the Statue of Liberty Coalition , was formed to block PAN, claiming the initiative is racist and will target Latino civil rights.
During the campaign, a split within the organization supporting PAN highlighted a split within the immigration reduction movement at the national level. Kathy McKee accused Rusty Childress, a Phoenix-area car dealer and PAN's treasurer, of withholding funds and petitions from PAN, and fired Childress. Childress sued McKee over custody of PAN's signatures and funds, but the court ruled in favor of McKee. Childress and the two most prominent supporters of the initiative within the Arizona state legislature, Russell Pearce and Randy Graf , then formed a competing organization, Yes on 200. When FAIR began an independent signature gathering campaign to collect the remaining signatures needed to put the initiative on the ballot, McKee accused FAIR of attempting a hostile takeover of PAN. McKee named Virginia Abernethy the chair of PAN's national advisory board. FAIR responded by issuing a press release calling for both McKee and Abernethy to resign from PAN, calling Abernethy's views "repulsive separatist views." As election day approached, two separate, rival groups were supporting Proposition 200: "Protect Arizona Now" led by Kathy McKee and supported at the national level by the Carrying Capacity Network (CCN) and Population-Environment Balance (PEB), and "Yes on 200" led by Rusty Childress and supported at the national level by FAIR. The split within PAN was a microcosm of an ongoing feud between the two Virginia Abernethy-aligned national groups and FAIR which dates back to at least 2003, with CCN and PEB issuing frequent statements accusing FAIR (as well as NumbersUSA) of being "reform lite" and "undermining real immigration reform".
Implementation
A substantial legal battle has erupted over the precise definition of "public benefits." Arizona's Attorney General has ruled that the law only pertains to discretionary state programs. Federally funded entitlements like food stamps and subsidized school lunches are examples of public benefits to which, given the Attorney General's finding, the new law will not apply.
The new law, in its current interpretation, is controversial. Legal challenges are still pending. Proponents of the original proposition say that the Attorney General overstepped his bounds when he narrowed the definition of "public benefits." On the other hand, opponents say that the measure is possibly unconstitutional, xenophobic, possibly racist, and definitely inhumane. The City Council of Phoenix, AZ has already declared that the city will pay to defend any city employee charged for failing to report an undocumented migrant; other cities may follow suit.
As of December 23, 2004, the federal appeals court in Tucson, AZ had removed an earlier restraing order that had kept the state from enacting the law. The new law is, for the time being, now exigent, with the definition of "public benefits" mandated by the Attorney General. City, state, and county workers will be fined up to $700 for each instance in which they provide such benefits to persons who cannot produce evidence of citizenship.
Kathy McKee has since started a new group, Protect America Now , to support similar initiatives in other states.
External links
Last updated: 05-23-2005 14:14:02
