The fifth district congressman called the Arizona measure fascist and racist in a brief and passionate appearance during a protest over the weekend in Loring Park.
"We must have immigration reform, humane immigration reform this year, right now," he told the crowd.
"The fact is we have to fight against this repressive law in Arizona," he added, as the crowd cheered. "We have to stop these fascist, racist laws."
Last week, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak called the Arizona measure a danger to city workers visiting the state and asked his department heads to cancel travel plans to Arizona for the time being. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman ordered a travel ban to the state for all city workers on official business.
Over the right, it's a different story. Tom Emmer, the GOP-endorsed candidate for governor called the Arizona law "a wonderful first step," and state Rep. Steve Drazkowski wants to copy it here.
"I have reviewed the Arizona law and am in the process of drafting a parallel bill," he told us yesterday. "The Democrats won't let us pass it, but we'll get some discussion started on it, and then after the elections, I expect we'll have a legislature that will be ready to pass it."
Drazkowski may want to heap scorn on the Democrats, but the truth is that conservative Republicans ranging from Texas Gov. Rick Perry to former White House strategist Karl Rove are questioning the wisdom of the Arizona law.
Here's some video of Ellison's speech:
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