MLBPA Will Stay Out Of Immigration Fight
PHOENIX (AP) The Major League Baseball Players Association will not ask players to skip next week's All-Star game in protest of Arizona's polarizing immigration law.
The MLBPA issued a statement opposing SB1070 last year when the law was first signed and said it would consider additional measures to protect the interests of its members if the law went into effect as written. Several players also spoke out, saying they might skip the All-Star game in protest.
A judge put on hold some of the strictest provisions of the law last year, which has taken away some of the furor over the law.
MLBPA executive director Michael Weiner issued a statement on Friday saying the organization has not asked players to refrain from participating in any All-Star activities.
"Our nation continues to wrestle with serious issues regarding immigration, prejudice and the protection of individual liberties," Weiner said. "Those matters will not be resolved at Chase Field, nor on any baseball diamond; instead they will be addressed in Congress and in statehouses and in courts by those charged to find the right balance among the competing and sincerely held positions brought to the debate."
SB1070 was signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer in April 2010. The most polarizing section of the law required officers enforcing other laws to question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally. That portion of SB1070 was put on hold by a federal judge just before the law went into effect.
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