It’s on: L.A. city council votes to boycott Arizona over immigration law

This is even sweeter than San Francisco’s mini-boycott, thanks to L.A.’s growing reputation as a city destroyed by leftist orthodoxy. There are a million jokes that could be made but I’ll stick with this one from Arizona resident Exurban Jon: “They can only pay us in IOUs anyway.”

Los Angeles on Wednesday became the largest city yet to boycott Arizona over its tough new law targeting illegal immigration in a move that likely will affect some $8 million in contracts with the state.

The City Council voted 13-1 to bar Los Angeles from conducting business with Arizona unless the law is repealed. The vote followed an emotional council discussion during which many members noted that their ancestors were U.S. immigrants.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa already has said he would approve the boycott.

“Los Angeles the second-largest city in this country, an immigrant city, an international city. It needs to have its voice heard,’’ Councilman Ed Reyes said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “As an American, I cannot go to Arizona today without a passport. If I come across an officer who’s having a bad day and feels that the picture on my ID is not me, I can be … deported, no questions asked. That is not American.”

Contracts between Arizona and the city’s power department are unaffected, unless of course Arizona wants to play hardball and do a little boycotting of its own. Said Jan Brewer in reply, capturing the absurdity of the situation: “I find it really interesting that we have people out there that are attempting a boycott in favor of illegal actions in Arizona. That to me is just unbelievable.” Indeed, especially since there are legal challenges aplenty in the works, including one potentially from the Justice Department. If the law holds up in court, will L.A. rescind the boycott? Or will the acute constitutional judgment of slackjawed imbeciles like Ed Reyes, who very obviously hasn’t read the statute, carry the day? Note to Ed: There’s nothing in there requiring citizens to carry a passport or even a driver’s license, although if you’re stopped and do happen to have your license on you, that’ll end any police suspicions about illegality. And I’m reasonably certain that the protocol for dealing with suspected illegals isn’t (a) arrest, (b) immediate police ride to the border, (c) push over the fence. From what I understand, cops have computers and databases and, oh, all kinds of stuff to check people’s identity before forcibly removing them from the country. If ever you wondered how L.A. came to be in the state it’s in, look no further than the fact that this demagogic dope is one of the most powerful people in it.

As for L.A. possibly galvanizing a national backlash to the law, think again. New from Pew:

The partisan split on overall approval: 82 percent Republican, 64 percent independent, and 45 percent Democratic, although interestingly there’s majority support among Dems for each individual element polled. We’re all “Nazis” now, my friends. Exit question: The western conference finals between L.A. and “Los Suns” start Monday night. Whom to root for?

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