Latino activists are urging a boycott on an Escondido gas station because the business owner is city councilman who voted to approve a controversial immigration law. KPBS Radio’s Andrew Phelps has more.
Activist Daniel Perez says he wants to teach a lesson in economics to Escondido City Councilman Sam Abed who voted in favor of a new ordinance that punishes landlords that rent to illegal immigrants. Perez says the measure will have a damaging ripple effect on local business because Escondido’s undocumented Mexicans are intertwined with the city’s many legal residents. Half of the workers at Abed’s gas station are Latino.
Perez: They’re connected one with the other. And if one is going to move, the other one is going to do it, too.
Perez says evicting the city’s Latino population would dissolve a vital pool of labor … not to mention a sizable share of consumer spending. Councilman Abed says his business has enjoyed more attention and more sales because of the protest. Perez says that’s okay. The message is more important. For KPBS, I’m Andrew Phelps.
