Last week, Columbus, OH Mayor Michael Coleman announced that he was banning city employees from traveling to Arizona on government business because of the state’s new anti-immigration law. “He agrees with those who want to send a message to the state of Arizona that this is not the American way,” Coleman’s spokesman said.
In response, a local radio station launched a contest to send a listener to Phoenix to “spend a weekend chasing aliens“:
610 WTVN would like to send you where Americans are proud and illegals are scared, sunny Phoenix, Arizona! You’ll spend a weekend chasing aliens and spending cash in the desert, just make sure you have your green card! Win round trip airfare to Phoenix, hotel accommodations, and a few pesos in spending cash — just register below! City employees encouraged to enter.
The ad for the contest on the website (which now says it is expired) features Coleman’s photo on a U.S. “Permanent Resident” card:
Central Ohio community leaders have called on the radio station to apologize for the promotion:
Community members will stand in solidarity and support the immigrant community and tell Columbus and Central Ohio to stand up to racial profiling and the racist remarks inferred by the WTVN 610 promotion.
“This is clearly the chilling effect of what is happening in Arizona with SB 1070”, we believe that our community must respect and protect all people”, commented Leonardo Ramos, President of Colombianos en Ohio.
This isn’t the first right-wing vigilante campaign that Arizona’s immigration law has spawned. A neo-Nazi group recently distributed fliers encouraging people to “Report An Illegal” on Cinco de Mayo. (HT: Raw Story)
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