PRESS CALL: Arizona’s Immigration Law and the Cost of Cancelled Conferences and Conventions

Report Reveals Hundreds of Millions in Lost Spending, Earnings, and Revenue As Well As Thousands of Lost Jobs

November 16, 2010

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Contact: Madeline Meth
Phone: 202.741.6277
Email: mmeth@americanprogress.org

Washington, D.C.—A new report to be released Thursday from the Center for American Progress should serve as a warning to states contemplating following in Arizona’s footsteps and adopting sweeping immigration measures. The Arizona law ignited a firestorm of controversy and triggered a national backlash. While many of the economic and social impacts of the law are still being tallied, one specific and significant hit to Arizona’s already-fragile economy is known—the adverse impact on the state’s conference and conventions industry. The report, prepared based on ground-level research and analysis by the Arizona firm Elliott D. Pollack & Co., is the first to examine the hundreds of millions of dollars lost in direct spending, earnings, and tax revenue, as well as thousands of jobs, caused by conferences that were either cancelled or simply never booked because of SB 1070’s restrictive nature.

Who:

Danny Court, Senior Economic Analyst, Elliott D. Pollack & Co.

Lea Marquez Peterson, President and CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Julio Fuentes, President and CEO of the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Angela M. Kelley, Vice President for Immigration Policy and Advocacy, Center for American Progress

What: Press call to discuss a new CAP report on the economic and fiscal impact of Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, on Arizona’s conference and convention industry

When: Thursday, November 18, 2010, at 11:30 a.m. EST

RSVP: Please contact Raúl Arce-Contreras at 202.478.5318 or rarcecontreras@americanprogress.org to RSVP to the call.

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