HUDSON COUNTY — U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), in a letter sent on Monday to the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), encouraged the association to boycott next year’s All-Star Game in Phoenix to protest the recently passed Arizona law to crack down on illegal immigrants.
Menendez, the former Union City mayor and the only Hispanic serving in the U.S. Senate, stated in the letter that “Latinos represent 27 percent of all MLB players and 28 percent of MLB players are foreign born,” and “these players come to the United States legally and should not be subjected to the humiliation and harassment that SB1070 would inflict.”
SB1070, also known as the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, was signed into passage by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer last month and goes into effect in July. Specifically, the state law makes it a misdemeanor for someone who is not a U.S. citizen, referred to as an alien in the bill, to be in Arizona without carrying documents attesting to their citizenship and also penalizes those who hire or shelter ‘aliens.’
Supporters of the bill said it needed to passed since Arizona, as a state that borders Mexico, has seen a rise in murders and kidnappings that they attribute to Mexicans coming across the border, with an estimated 460,000 who come into the state without legal documents. But Menendez, one of many critics of the bill, said in his letter that the bill “codifies racial profiling into law by requiring police to question anyone who appears to be in the country illegally.” Other critics say SB1070 supersedes the federal government’s authority to enact and enforce immigration laws.
The letter was also sent to support MLBPA executive director Michael Weiner for coming out against the law because Weiner felt it could negatively impact hundreds of players.
Menendez, 56, born in New York City and living in New Jersey most of his life, is the son of Cuban immigrants who came to the U.S. in 1953. He currently represents New Jersey’s 13th District, which includes most of Hudson County, with Hispanics making up about 47 percent of the district’s population. — RK