Governor Jan Brewer signs radical anti-immigrant bill into law despite the thousands of Arizonans who called her to oppose the bill.

Washington D.C. - Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina released this statement after Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the SB 1070" into law today.

"We are deeply disappointed that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer decided to fall back on the same old election year game of demonizing immigrants to score cheap points with her base. Worse than the usual anti-immigrant rhetoric, this bill gives racial profiling the force of law and institutionalizes racism. Not only that, it will waste Arizona and its local governments' already stretched resources while doing nothing to fix our broken immigration system.

"At a time when elected leaders should be demonstrating leadership instead of creating division, Governor Brewer and Senator McCain have chosen to support a flawed and dangerous law rather than put forward real solutions to truly fix our broken immigration system.

"This radical anti-immigration law should be a wake-up call to Congress and the White House. Immigration is a national problem that needs a national solution. The lack of action from the Federal government to address the immigration crisis led to this desperate measure by the Arizona legislature. Several representatives who voted for this bill cited this as their reason for their vote - even though they did not think it would do anything to solve Arizona's immigration crisis.

"This could happen in other states if Congress doesn't pass real reform. We need immigration policies that will eliminate the underground economy by getting undocumented immigrants into the system, paying fines, back taxes, learning English, and getting on local, state and federal tax rolls. We need reform that will truly end illegal immigration and hold bad-actor employers responsible for depressing wages and violating the right to a safe worksite for all workers.

"In the coming weeks and months, SEIU together with dozens of other reform minded organizations, will be turning up the pressure on Congress and the President to address this crisis once and for all and pass true comprehensive immigration reform. This must stop in Arizona."

With 2.2 million members in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in the Americas. Focused on uniting workers in healthcare, public services and property services, SEIU members are winning better wages, healthcare and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers--not just corporations and CEOs--benefit from today's global economy.

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