Arizona Immigration Law Impacts Tourism

Whatever your feelings about the new AZ law enforcement efforts concerning illegal immigration, it shouldn't affect your vacation or business travel plans to one of America's most scenic states. The Petrified Forest is still there. The Grand Canyon is still there. The Sonoran Desert is still there. The Saguaro National Forest is still there. Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tucson and Flagstaff are still there.

One of the most unfortunate aspects of the situation is that politicians from elsewhere in the nation seem to be taking unfair advantage of Arizona's troubles. Attempting to entice visitors to cancel plans to visit the Grand Canyon State, they tout their own fiefdoms as substitutes. For example, using political doubletalk, Mayor Bloomberg of New York City oozed, "We're happy to have those businesses and tourists (who cancel trips to Arizona) come here."

Another politician was even more specific. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera called for a sweeping boycott of the state of Arizona and Arizona-based businesses. Maybe to make it effective, he can hire a crew to go out and fill in the Grand Canyon. He can certainly do it with the load of rabid politcal manure he's tossing around.

Other strange voices just came into the argument. Travel officials in Mexico are warning their nationals NOT to travel to Arizona. Now, that's a switch to keep the late-night comedians busy all season.

The simple fact is that Arizona is merely attempting to enforce long-standing Federal immigration laws. The now-Homeland Security boss and former Arizona governor Janet Napolitano and other yahoos in Washington have failed to do it for years. Now, more than ever, Congress and White House politicians are focusing on re-election. They're shaking in their boots in fear of losing the minority vote, particularly Hispanic Americans.

Visit New York City, Washington and San Francisco any time you want, but don't allow blabbermouth partisan politics to make you cancel plans for experiencing the beautiful state of Arizona and all the beautiful and historic tourist sites and places of interest.