The boycotts and resolutions condemning Arizona's immigration law have been coming in bunches. But things were different Tuesday night in Yorba Linda.
The city became the first in Orange County to pass a resolution in support of Arizona's SB 1070, which requires police enforcing another law to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are in the country illegally.
Yorba Linda Mayor John Anderson said it's "critical for every city, every government agency to take a stand on this," according to the OC Register.
Many have done just that. On Tuesday, LA the county's board of supervisors voted 3-2 to ban new contracts with Arizona-based companies and review those that could be canceled. The county has more than $26 million in contracts with Arizona companies this year.
Several California cities, including Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco, have passed similar measures.
The Los Angeles Unified School District also voted Tuesday to condemn the law and explore ways of curtailing district-sponsored employee travel, economic support of Arizona and companies based there. The resolution also calls for civics and history classes to include a discussion of the Arizona law "in the context of unity, diversity and equal protection for all."
The Register reported that Anderson, Councilwoman Nancy Rikel and Councilman Mark Schwing supported Yorba Linda's resolution. Councilwoman Jan Horton left the meeting because of a personal emergency.
One council member walked out in protest. Jim Winder said the item was one of several that he considered political in nature and a waste of the city's time, the Register reported.
Also on Tuesday, a Quinnipiac University poll was released that found about three-fourths of voters in the U.S. think boycotting Arizona because of its immigration law is a bad idea. The national survey of 1,914 registered voters also found that most support the law itself, with 51 percent of voters approving of the measure and 31 percent disapproving.
The poll, conducted May 19-24, had a sampling error margin of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
U.S. Justice Department officials have drafted a legal challenge asserting that Arizona's law is unconstitutional because it intrudes on the federal government's authority to guard the nation's borders. President Barack Obama, a critic of the law, is planning to meet Thursday with Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer, a White House official said Tuesday.
The Arizona law is set to go into effect July 29.
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