The war between the states, or between one state and a growing list of cities, is starting to get heated.
Los Angeles decided to hop on the bandwagon and boycott official travel to Arizona because of the state’s controversial immigration law, which allows police to demand identification from anyone it suspects is in the country illegally. Arizona’s response: turn off LA’s power.
The sprawling California city gets a sizable chunk of its power from Arizona, and if the state follows through with its threat it could end up being a long, hot summer for people living in the city.
We think the immigration law is little more than legally sanctioned racial profiling, but we are not so naive to think Arizona would ignore threats to its tourism economy.
What bothers us is that Arizona officials seem more willing to dig their heels into the ground and fight back than consider listening to the public outcry against the law.
Boycotting travel punishes people for simply living in a state, and threatening to cut power for millions certainly will not make Arizona a popular tourist destination. In fact, it sidesteps the problem all together.
If Arizona really wanted to help, it might try to assuage fears that visitors will be harassed by police for looking Hispanic once they step off a plane.
This back-and-forth debate amounts to nothing more than a game of tit-for-tat that punishes the wrong people. It needs to stop before everyone is left in the dark.
