The genesis of Donald Trump’s xenophobic anti-immigrant nativist and racist demagoguery began right here in Arizona more than a decade ago with Prop. 200 in 2004, the “Arizona Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act,” which required that voters be able to produce both identification and proof of citizenship prior to being allowed to vote in any election. The same requirements were also enacted for any person prior to receiving any state or locally funded benefits.
The Yes on 200 committee was led by Rusty Childress, a Phoenix-area car dealer, and supported at the national level by the anti-immigrant Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), whose legal arm is the Immigration Reform Law Institute, lead by the GOP’s voter suppression expert, Kris Kobach, who is now unbelievably Secretary of State of Kansas.
There is, of course, the virulently anti-immigrant Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio who built his reputation on immigrant sweeps, when he was not abusing the power of his office by conducting witch hunts against his political opponents.
Then Rep. Russell Pearce “introduced what is now SB 1070 … every year between 2005 and 2009, before it finally passed and was signed by Gov. Jan Brewer” in 2010 (Pearce only introduced the bill, it was drafted by Kris Kobach as model legislation for ALEC). Pearce bragged in 2011, 1 battle in Arizona immigration war:
Prior to SB 1070, I introduced many other measures that addressed illegal immigration — and eventually became law. In 2004, 56 percent of Arizona voters approved Prop 200, which denies certain government benefits to illegal immigrants and prevents voter fraud.
Additional laws that punish human smugglers; deny illegal immigrants bail, and set up a statewide task force to deal with illegal immigrant gangs passed prior to SB 1070.
