Immigration Politics - Arizona: Legislature loses desire to pursue immigration bills

 Legislature loses desire to pursue immigration bills: "A year after Arizona enacted the nation’s toughest local immigration enforcement law, the Legislature’s appetite for confronting border woes waned considerably as business leaders rallied this year against legislation that they said would hurt the state’s struggling economy.

Many advocates for tougher enforcement thought that the passage of last year’s law gave them momentum to again push the bounds on what communities can do about cracking down on illegal immigration. But the economic boycotts that came after the passage of the enforcement law — which turns 1 year old today — cast a dark cloud over border bills considered by lawmakers this year.

“Do we want to go through another round of boycotts?” said Democratic Sen. Steve Gallardo of Phoenix. It was the prevailing sentiment of lawmakers who defeated this year’s state bills that would have challenged automatic U.S. citizenship for children of illegal immigrants and prohibited illegal immigrants from driving in Arizona."