By Maria Peña

WASHINGTON – Immigrant defense groups said Monday that they are weighing an economic boycott and other resistance measures against an Arizona law criminalizing undocumented immigrants and they reiterated their demand for immigration reform.

The law, signed last Friday by Gov. Jan Brewer, has sparked protests both in favor and against reform that would allow the legalization of the approximately 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

During a conference call with reporters, activists warned of a “national crisis” that is making it more urgent for Congress to revise the inadequate U.S. immigration system.

“We are gathering, we are marching, we are appealing to courts, and using whatever means necessary,” the Rev. Warren Stewart, pastor of Phoenix’s First Institutional Baptist Church, said.

He said the message to politicians must be: “You cannot wait until next year” to move on immigration reform.

Rosa Rosales, the president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said that all options are on the table, “from legal strategies to economic boycotts.”

This would not be the first boycott implemented to press for immigration reform – a similar move was made in 2007 with the “Day without Immigrants” – but the activists want the politicos to take into account the growing clout of the immigrant community.

“Every state depends on tourism, on conventions, and we believe that if they’re being disrespectful to ... Latinos, then definitely they don’t need our business,” Rosales said.

Both Ali Noorani, of the National Immigration Forum, and Clarissa Martinez, of the National Council of La Raza, supported the idea of a boycott, but they did not say when or how such a measure might be undertaken.

Angela Kelley, of the Center for American Progress, said that it is time for Democratic and Republican politicians to act as “problem-solvers and not as schoolyard bullies.”

The Fair Immigration Reform Movement is also discussing the possibility of a boycott but it is asking for “presidential leadership on immigration reform and an end to Republican obstructionism,” Germonique R. Ulmer, spokesperson for the Center for Community Change, told Efe.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association has already cancelled its convention in Arizona, and other civic groups are thinking about doing the same thing.

The law in question makes it a misdemeanor to be in Arizona without the proper immigration documents and requires police to verify the immigration status of anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.

The measure also prohibits people from hiring undocumented day laborers and the establishment of “sanctuary cities.”

Several groups, among them the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, are preparing a legal battle against the measure, which will enter into force in approximately 90 days.

Fifteen years ago, MALDEF managed to defeat Proposition 187 in California, which demanded proof of residence from people wanting to access public services, but court judges declared it unconstitutional.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that the Obama administration is evaluating the Arizona law, “its impact on civil rights and other implications.”

Gibbs did not say if the White House would support a legal complaint against the law, but he repeated that national government inaction could result in there soon being 50 state immigration laws.

Supporters of the law say that the state needs more protection against crimes committed by undocumented people, who number about 460,000 in Arizona. EFE