MOBILE, Ala.
Alabama's controversial new immigration law has prompted a large medical association to cancel its 2013 convention in Mobile, Ala. out of fear of members' safety, according to The Mobile Press-Register.
The Battle House Renaissance Hotel estimated the conference to be worth about $100,000, hotel general manager Margo Gilbert said. The group would have booked around 500 to 600 room nights. They pulled out, according to the paper, because the law created an atmosphere in which some members--particularly Latino members--didn't feel safe.
"We had people who felt they would not be able to jog without identification if they did not appear to be American,” said Dr. Allen Perkins, chairman of University of South Alabama College of Medicine Family Medicine Department.
The convention would have injected about $700,000 into local coffers the article says, citing the Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau's estimate. A University of Alabama analysis of the effects of the bill says that costs would outweigh potential benefits, reducing statewide economic output by $11 billion.
Courtesy of USA Today
