Voces de la Frontera urges boycott of Menards after Gov. Walker signed bill into law -- but why?
MILWAUKEE -- Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant rights organization, is calling for a boycott of Menards after a bill was signed into law by Governor Scott Walker this week.
Walker on Monday, April 25th signed into law Senate Bill 533, which hinders Milwaukee's efforts to provide local photo IDs to the homeless, immigrants in the country illegally and others who have difficulty obtaining state IDs.
The Republican bill prohibits towns and counties from spending money on or issuing photo IDs. It also prohibits using city or village IDs to vote or obtain public benefits, like food stamps.
Thousands of protesters packed the state Capitol in February to protest the bill and another failed proposal that would have banned so-called "sanctuary cities."
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Voces de La Frontera
Critics, like Voces de la Frontera officials, are calling the ID bill anti-immigrant and say it's aimed at Milwaukee city and county plans to issue local IDs to assist with everyday tasks, like opening bank accounts or obtaining prescriptions.
The bill's supporters say it will reduce confusion and fraud.
"It should not vary from one part of the state to the other as to whether or not people can get ID. It's something that should be uniformly provided and it is uniformly provided under the law today," Walker said.
So why is Voces de la Frontera calling for a boycott of Menards?
"The largest corporate donor to Governor Walker`s political campaign. We showed on February 18th the power of economic collective action and that is what we want to demonstrate again," Christina Neumann-Ortiz with Voces de la Frontera said.
A search of state campaign finance records shows that Menards' CEO John Menard has donated thousands to Walker's political campaigns.
"These IDs actually were going to help the most vulnerable in our community, which is the undocumented, the LGBT community, the homeless. We`re not advocating for any other than just a regular ID to show who they are. Simple as that," Torres said.
FOX6 News reached out to Menards officials, who said they are not commenting at this time.
CLICK HERE for a statement from Voces de la Frontera on the signing of Senate Bill 533.
CLICK HERE to read Senate Bill 533.