(Credit: City of Austin)
Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk has lifted a ban on city workers traveling to Arizona for business purposes, which had been in place for eight years.
In 2010, the Austin City Council enacted the ban in response to Arizona’s SB 1070, which severely cracked down on illegal immigration. In response to the state’s efforts to stem the tide of people flowing into the state from Mexico without permission, the Austin City Council called the Arizona law racist and a tool created to racially profile Hispanics. Because of that, all Austin city employees were banned from traveling to the state on official business.
On Tuesday, Cronk lifted the ban, citing years of Supreme Court rulings that have significantly blunted the law’s impact. Cronk also said he no longer believes Hispanic city employees who might travel through the state will be subjected to potential racial profiling.
The City of Austin had no recorded business dealings within Arizona at the time the city council chose to put the ban into effect.
