Senator: Players should boycott 2011 All-Star Game

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By Sean Lengell

Sen. Robert C. Menendez, the Senate's sole Hispanic, has urged Major League Baseball players to boycott next year's All-Star Game in Phoenix over Arizona's new immigration law.

In a letter Monday to Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Michael Weiner, the New Jersey Democrat said the Arizona law to crack down on illegal immigrants "is an embarrassment to our country."

"In every century and generation, immigrants have contributed to the progress, prosperity and vitality of this nation," Mr. Menendez wrote. "While I understand the frustration about the failures of our current system, states should not be permitted to enact their own discriminatory immigration laws while the federal government works to reform our laws."

Mr. Menendez, who said that one in four major leaguers is of Hispanic descent and more than 25 percent of the players overall are foreign-born, has called for the boycott unless the law is repealed or the game is moved to another location.

The law — set to take effect this summer, though expected to be mired in court challenges — calls for law enforcement officials to question people about their immigration status if they have reason to suspect they are in the country illegally.

Mr. Weiner has come out against the law, saying it could hurt hundreds of players.

Mr. Menendez is the latest in a growing list of high-profile public and religious officials calling for boycotts of Arizona. But state's two Republican senators — John McCain and Jon Kyl — both support the law.

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