Linda Sanchez.

WHITTIER - Rep. Linda Sanchez told a local Democratic Club Tuesday that she believes white supremacist groups were behind the controversial Arizona law on immigration.

Audio: Rep. Linda Sanchez's comments

"The Arizona laws are not a mistake," said Sanchez, D-Lakewood, referring to Arizona's S.B. 1070, that requires police enforcing another law to question a person about his or her immigration status if there is "reasonable suspicion" that the person is in the United States illegally and makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally.

"They're not accidental or one person's crazy idea," she said of the law. "There's a concerted effort behind promoting these kinds of laws on a state-by-state basis by people who have ties to white supremacy groups," Sanchez said.

"It's been documented. It's not mainstream politics. (Legislators) are being approached by folks, who are front organizations for white supremacist hate groups. They propose the language of these bills and get people to carry these bills in the state legislatures," she said.

Sanchez, who spoke before about 20 members of the Mark Twain Democratic Club's dinner meeting at Mimi's Cafe, predicted the law will lead to discrimination.

"It creates a Jim Crow system where based on the color of your skin you could be treated as a second-class citizen or harassed based on how you look," she said.

Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar, called Sanchez's comments "an outrageous accusation."

"It's trying to find somebody somewhere you can accuse of something," Miller said. "It's a red herring. (She's) trying to change the debate from what the law says."

Sanchez said after her speech that she based on her comments on online stories.

In particular, she cited a blog written by Andrea Nill, an immigration researcher-blogger for ThinkProgress.org.

Nill wrote that the Immigration Law Reform Institute helped write the Arizona immigration law.

She stated that this group is the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an anti-immigrant group that has most recently been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

However, Dan Stein, president of FAIR, has disputed the labeling, saying it has no factual basis and that his group has requested a correction from the center.

Others also criticized Sanchez's comments.

"Governor (Jan) Brewer signed S.B. 1070 because it mirrors what is already federal law and because our federal government has failed to secure our international border, leading to Arizona becoming a super highway of illegal drug and human trafficking," stated Brewer's spokesman, Paul Senseman in an e-mailed reaction.

Senseman also stated that there are protections built into the law.

State Sen. Russell Pearce of Arizona, who authored the bill, couldn't be reached for comment because he is out of state on vacation.

mike.sprague@sgvn.com

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