The San Diego Unified School District Board of Education will on Tuesday consider warning its students and parents against travel to Arizona, where a new immigration law was recently adopted.
A resolution proposed by school board President Richard Barrera condemns the legislation, demands its repeal, and cautions students and family from spending time in Arizona "due to the risk they may face in being subjected to inappropriate and unlawful scrutiny.''
The new Arizona law allows local law enforcement officers there to question people on their immigration status if they have been stopped for any other reasonable cause, has been condemned by political bodies from the San Diego City Council to the Obama administration.
However, polls consistently show support for Arizona among most of the public, with the federal government catching blame for failing to stop illegal immigration.
According to the proposed resolution scheduled to be taken up at a meeting Tuesday evening, 44 percent of SDUSD students are Hispanic and 75 percent are non-white.
Those students could "potentially be targeted and harassed by law enforcement officials in Arizona as 'reasonably suspect' if they fall into a stereotype held by law enforcement officers,'' the resolution states.
"The law undermines fundamental civil rights and civil liberties, and poses a special threat to people of color who live in and travel through Arizona,'' it says.
The resolution states that the new law "criminalizes unlawful presence.''
The San Diego City Council passed a resolution last week condemning Arizona's immigration stance. Only Councilman Carl DeMaio dissented.
