Some issues this legislative session could seriously impact Arizona’s diverse communities.
In fact, they could take us down the dark path to xenophobia and “anti-foreigner” divisiveness that we saw 15 years ago.
One is Senate Bill 1004 , the so-called “alien land law” that would seek to ban “foreign groups” or individuals from buying Arizona land.
Sponsors of the legislation argue that they don’t want Saudi Arabian-owned farms using up Arizona resources, and there is a similar bill being pushed by Sen. Wendy Rogers to stop Chinese companies and “Chinese communists” from buying land.
It’s not just foreign firms driving water use
Another effort worth following is the state’s TikTok ban.
Gov. Katie Hobbs prohibited TikTok from state devices in Arizona, a ban picked up by our state university system with more than 220,000 students, because of the claim that TikTok is feeding info to the Chinese government or the Communist Party.
These policies aren’t just misguided and false on their face — they take us down a dangerous path towards blaming foreigners and overseas boogeymen, with serious impacts on Arizona’s minority communities.