By David Schwartz
PHOENIX (Reuters) - Lawmakers in Arizona, a fast-growing border state that is the biggest U.S. entry point for illegal immigrants, called for a crackdown on undocumented workers on Monday, as millions nationwide protested to demand new rights and respect for foreign residents.
Republican legislators prepared to introduce potentially one of the toughest state anti-immigrant proposals, a $100 million package that would deploy National Guard troops to the desert border with Mexico and use radar to track anyone trying to sneak across the border.
"I am not just going to stand by while this country is being destroyed," said state Rep. Russell Pearce, a Republican and outspoken opponent of illegal immigration.
Hundreds of people protested in Phoenix, the nation's fifth-largest city, joining millions across the United States who took to the streets and boycotted work and shops to focus the nation's attention on the contribution of an estimated 12 million undocumented workers to the economy.
As the 2,000-mile (3,219-km) U.S. border with Mexico has been fortified in heavily-populated areas, immigrants increasingly have entered the United States by crossing the Arizona desert.
Arizona recorded more than half of the 1.2 million arrests made last fiscal year along the frontier.
The southwestern state has become a mecca for tourists and retirees fleeing harsh winters, and relies heavily on illegal immigrants, especially in the construction and service industries, said Tom Rex, associate director of the Center for Business Research at Arizona State University.
He said the state needs more workers. "In certain industries, we could have even offered higher wages and still would not have been able to fill those jobs," he said.
The bill being prepared on Monday would include strict sanctions for employers who knowingly hire illegal workers.
"This is the kind of thing that the public has been saying it wants for a long time," Pearce said.
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, has already come out against parts of the package, but Republican lawmakers told Reuters they would seek to put the measure before state voters as early as November if she vetoes it.
Arizona is home to the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a self-styled citizens group that patrols stretches of the border with Mexico, and state voters in 2004 approved an initiative requiring voter applicants to prove their citizenship when registering.
"We really do feel like our state has been overrun," said Kathy McKee, who founded and led effort behind that initiative.
