PHOENIX, March 19 (UPI) -- The Arizona Senate, under pressure from business groups, has rejected a package of five bills aimed at curbing illegal immigration.
Thursday's vote was a major change of course in the state, which adopted a law last year requiring police to investigate suspected illegal immigrants, The New York Times said. One of the bills that failed would have required hospitals to report to police patients who might be in the country illegally, and another resolution attacked the provision in the U.S. Constitution for "birth-right citizenship" for all children born within U.S. borders.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other organizations said boycotts after the immigration law passed last year had cost the state millions of dollars. Phoenix lost a number of major conventions.
"I don't believe that anyone, including myself, foresaw the national and international reaction," said Glenn Hamer, the chamber's chief executive. "Now we have that experience under our belts. We know these measures can cause economic damage; it's just a matter of degree."
The Republican state Senate President Russell Pearce pushed for the bills' approval. But another Republican, state Sen. John McComish, told the Times "enough is enough."
