Immigration reform activist plans Super Bowl boycott

An organizer of two marches for immigration reform is planning a Hispanic boycott of jobs during next year’s Super Bowl week in hopes of crippling the state’s restaurant and hotel industry.

Elias Bermudez said the decision follows passage of a new state law to crack down on companies that hire undocumented workers.

That law is supposed to take effect Jan. 1 — just weeks before the Feb. 8 Super Bowl at University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale.

But Bermudez, president of Inmigrantes Sin Fronteras — Immigrants Without Borders — said the boycott is really the culmination of frustration with a series of what he sees as antiimmigrant measures enacted in Arizona, many approved by voters by large margins.

Those include denial of certain public benefits and a requirement for those not here legally to pay the higher nonresident tuition at state colleges and universities.

“Seventy percent of voters do not want us here,” he said. “They think we are a detriment to our state.”

And by “us” Bermudez said he means not just the estimated 500,000 people in Arizona illegally but also U.S. citizens of Hispanic descent like himself.

He said the boycott — and the effect on the tourism industry — will give Arizonans “a little motivation” to see that the migrant community is a necessary part of the state economy.

“We do the cooking, we pick up the dishes, we do whatever it takes,” he said.

The chairman of the Super Bowl host committee quickly sought to distance his panel from the entire controversy.

Mike Kennedy said the committee “plays no role in state or federal legislation dealing with immigration.”

The prepared statement — no one would agree to an interview — goes on to say the committee is “confident Arizonans understand the significance of hosting the world’s premiere sporting event and will step forward to proudly and successfully host Super Bowl XLII.”

But committee publicist Christina Estes said that is not a call by Kennedy urging Hispanics to go to work during the week of the big event.

And she refused to say whether the committee is concerned that a boycott might prove so distasteful to the National Football League dignitaries that they refuse to bring the annual event here again.

Bermudez acknowledged it is risky asking people to give up a week of work for a political cause.

But he said he believes Hispanics and those who sympathize with the cause will make the sacrifice.

“People are willing to follow if you give them the reason,” he said.