Three of Arkansas' largest business interests joined with church leaders and activists Monday in a lobbying effort aimed at stopping any state or local legislation targeting illegal immigration.
Representatives from Alltel Corp., Tyson Foods Inc. and Stephens Inc. announced an unlikely alliance with the American Civil Liberties Union, state appeals court judge Wendell Griffen and others to form the Arkansas Friendship Coalition.
"State and local governments should not be involving themselves in issues that only Congress can really address," said Archie Schaffer, senior vice president for external affairs for Tyson. The coalition announced its formation at events in Springdale and Little Rock.
Steve Copley, the coalition's chairman, would not say specifically which measures the group would oppose, and the coalition's Web site and news release repeatedly referred to "punitive" measures targeting immigrants. But the effort comes after a series of hearings by Republican lawmakers focusing on the cost of services related to illegal immigrants.
Members of the coalition cited a failed effort during the legislative session this year that would have criminalized harboring or transportation of illegal immigrants. They also noted agreements four northwest Arkansas police agencies signed with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration law
"These are very punitive laws, and they create a general atmosphere of hostility," said Alan Leveritt, publisher of the Arkansas Times and El Latino newspapers. "If you happen to be a Latino person, do you really want to drive through the city of Rogers with a tail light out? It creates a general problem."
Copley, pastor of the First United Methodist Church in North Little Rock, said he is also opposed to Gov. Mike Beebe's request that Arkansas State Police pursue an agreement with the federal government that would allow troopers to enforce immigration law.
"We just think it would be a new burden and a new cost," Copley said.
Copley, however, said he did not believe that Beebe was moving toward supporting immigration measures that his group would call punitive. Last week, the governor said that the Hispanic community has a "disconnect" when it comes to the subject of illegal immigration.
"If it is illegal, it means it's illegal," Beebe said.
Monday, Beebe called the coalition "an admirable undertaking" on a controversial subject.
"The federal government's inconsistent and unclear immigration policy has left all states, including Arkansas, in the difficult position of trying to care for all their residents while respecting federal laws that often go unenforced," Beebe said.
Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said the governor was open to discussing Copley's concerns about immigration enforcement by state troopers, but noted that no agreement has been signed. The governor has said any agreement with the federal government about the program must include details on what the federal government will do if any illegal immigrants are taken into custody by state police. Beebe said local and state prisons don't have room to take in illegal immigrants.
"Right now, it's in the very preliminary discussion stage," DeCample said.
Rep. Jon Woods, who has pushed for stricter measures targeting illegal immigrants at the state level, said he believed the group is trying to mislead people by presenting itself as a group lobbying for all immigrants. Woods, R-Springdale, said he believes the group is only trying to protect people who are in the country illegally.
"They're trying to prevent us from doing what the people have asked us to do, which is enforce the law," Woods said.
Griffen, who is also a Baptist preacher, said he did not believe he had a conflict of interest by supporting a group lobbying against immigration legislation. Last month, a judicial ethics panel dropped charges against Griffen over comments the judge made about the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina, minimum wage, the war in Iraq, and against critics of immigrants and homosexuals.
"Any notion of morality that subjects a stranger to a different and lower level of treatment than one allowed to someone who is native born is in almost every way wicked," Griffen said. "So I don't know why there's a great deal of effort to justify the wicked and the illegal at the expense of the vulnerable."