Baca set to boycott Arizona; congressman irked by immigration law
Stephen Wall, Staff Writer
Posted: 04/26/2010 07:06:12 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO - On the day that Mexican President Felipe Calderon strongly condemned a new Arizona law cracking down on illegal immigration, a local Democratic congressman called for an economic boycott of the state.

Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, urged people to follow his lead and avoid traveling or spending their money in Arizona in protest of the state law that makes it a crime to be an illegal immigrant.

Baca said he would no longer fly from Ontario to Washington, D.C., because the flight stops in Phoenix. Instead, he said he will take a nonstop flight from Los Angeles to the nation's capital.

"I will not fly through Arizona until the law is repealed," Baca said in a phone interview Monday. "I also encourage people not to travel to Arizona unless they have to. If you have to travel, fuel up in California before you get to Arizona."

Baca also called for the wearing of red, yellow and blue ribbons - the colors of the Arizona flag - to show solidarity with the people of the state.

"I think the law is totally wrong," Baca said. "This just creates anger, hate and racial profiling."

The fallout over the signing of the bill, SB 1070, by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer last week rippled across the country on Monday.

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