Gabriel Arana wonders how such a draconian anti-immigration bill passed in a state where the population is 30 percent Hispanic:
Nogales, Arizona’s largest city on the Mexican border, is situated about 70 miles south of Tucson, along a desert valley spotted with Spanish-era missions. Home to 20,000 people, 97 percent of whom are Hispanic, one would expect the city to be ground zero for impassioned demonstrations against SB 1070, the controversial immigration-enforcement law signed by Gov. Jan Brewer three weeks ago. But for the largely immigrant community here, the prevailing sentiment is one of resignation — and fear for those relatives and friends who are here illegally.
“My friends and I used to go out to eat on Sundays, but now you’re afraid of just going out on the street,” says Maria, an undocumented immigrant who has worked as a housekeeper for over 20 years. (Maria asked her name be changed to protect her identity.) “But that’s the law here, what’s there to do?”
