Arizona's Immigration Law and Spring Training

You are probably aware of the new Arizona immigration law, which would seem to be a plan to encourage police to hassle anyone who appears to be Latino. Perhaps some day they will wake up to the fact that people coming here from Mexico to work does not bring violence. But our war on drugs, and the cartels it created along the Mexican border which now spreads north has.

My prediction is that the silliness of this law will hit the fan next year during baseball's Spring Training. All levels of baseball are currently stocked with a great many Latino players, many of whom will converge next Spring in Arizona. How long will it take for some young Dominican player, who speaks little english and left his room without his green card, to be arrested by some over zealous Arizona cop? My guess is not long. And this will lead to outrage among ballplayers, and pressure on MLB to do something about it.

The clubs who train in Arizona have invested money in being there, and are probably not likely to abandon the state quickly. But they are not going to like their latino players being hassled, and they are going to like it even less if it is a star player who ends up arrested. Stay tuned for the fireworks.