Tempers blazed hotter than the Arizona sun Thursday as Sheriff Joe Arpaio and like-minded politicians campaigned to keep the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star game in Phoenix.
Arpaio, joined by Sen. Russell Pearce and Rep. Steve Montenegro, held a press conference to announce the results of a petition run by BanAmnestyNow.com, a national organization of which Arpaio and Pearce are co-chairmen. The petition seeks to keep the 2011 All-Star game at Chase Field, despite boycott threats from civil rights groups as well as the Major League Baseball Players Association.
Arpaio called the threats “ridiculous,” saying these groups advocate “boycotting America’s pastime.”
“(Civil rights groups) want amnesty; that’s what this is all about,” he said. “Don’t take it out on baseball.”
Pearce, a lead sponsor of SB 1070, said opponents of the bill are “punishing Arizona” by pressuring Major League Baseball to relocate the All-Star game.
Pearce cited groups such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
“(These organizations) should not punish all of Arizona for upholding the law in favor of the few who are breaking the law,” Pearce said.
While Rep. Steve Montenegro is not a member of the BanAmnestyNow.com leadership team, he supports the group’s ideals. He was the only Hispanic member of the Arizona legislature to vote in favor of SB 1070 and said he takes personal interest in the controversy surrounding the bill.
“I think it’s pretty racist to assume illegal immigration deals only with Hispanics,” Montenegro said. “Illegal immigration comes from all over the world.”
Montenegro describes himself as “one of many Hispanic Republicans standing up to Obama.”
He disagrees with the way the federal government has handled the issue of immigration.
“What breaks my heart is that rather than (receiving) real solutions from Washington, we’re playing political games,” he said.
A mere mile away from Chase Field, students at ASU’s Downtown campus find themselves close to the controversy but torn about the issues at hand.
Caroline Hester, a sophomore journalism transfer student from the University of Arizona, said that Arpaio has overstepped his political boundaries in terms of how he is handling immigration.
“He bends the rules a lot,” she said. “He projects to his followers that he’s doing good, when really it’s just his agenda.”
ASU student Matt Stewart said he hadn’t heard about the MLB controversy, but he supported Arpaio’s stance on immigration.
“Somebody needs to take care of it, and Arpaio’s the only one to do it,” he said.
Criminal justice junior Savannah Beauchamp said she agrees with a compromise between open-border policies and stopping immigration at the border, but the MLB boycott threats are unfair.
“If you boycott baseball because of this, you’re mixing baseball with politics,” she said.
Contact the reporter at jtylor@asu.edu
