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Arizona's illegal immigrants should have utilities cut, candidate [Barry Wong] says
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Candidate
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| Contributor | DFWDem |
| Last Edited | DFWDem Jun 30, 2010 02:23pm |
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| Category | General |
| Author | Ryan Randazzo |
| Media | Newspaper - Arizona Republic (Phoenix) |
| News Date | Wednesday, June 30, 2010 08:20:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Many illegal immigrants could have a hard time getting power, water, natural-gas or phone service at their homes in Arizona if a political candidate gets his way.
Barry Wong, a Republican candidate for the Arizona Corporation Commission, told The Arizona Republic on Tuesday that, if elected, he would require regulated utilities to check the immigration status of customers, a move he says would keep costs down for other customers.
One immigrant advocate quickly cast the statement as political posturing, a bid for votes in an election season already charged by the immigration issue. But Wong insisted he has a financial motivation.
"There is a cost ratepayers shouldn't have to bear because of the illegal-immigrant population," Wong said.
"I'm sure there will be criticism about human-rights violations," Wong said of his utility proposal. "Is power or natural gas or any type of utility we regulate, is that a right that people have? It is not a right. It is a service."
The other two Republicans in the race and all three Democrats said that asking utilities to check customers' immigration status is inappropriate.
"That's not an argument I think we'll involve ourselves in," said Pierce, a Republican and former majority whip in the state House. |
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