Gov. Rick Perry came out against Arizona's controversial immigration law Thursday afternoon, although for different reasons than many other opponents of the bill.

The Arizona law would require local and state law enforcement to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being undocumented, and make it a crime for immigrants to lack registration documents.

"Some aspects of the law turn law enforcement officers into immigration officials by requiring them to determine immigration status during any lawful contact with a suspected alien, taking them away from their existing law enforcement duties, which are critical to keeping citizens safe," Perry said.

Republican State Rep. Debbie Riddle of Tomball defended her push to introduce a controversial immigration law in Texas similar to that of Arizona's. Riddle has said she plans to introduce the measure in the January legislative session.

"My number one priority as an elected official is to make sure that the safety and security of Texans is well established. If I don't do that or do it well, then there is no number two priority," she said. "The opponents of this want to make it a big racial profiling thing. They want to make it a big racist thing. It has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with safety and security."

The success of that proposal may wane, however, without support from Texas' top seat. Not only that, but, with a growing Latino population, Texas lawmakers have been more reluctant than some other border states to enact anti-immigration legislation into law.

"I fully recognize and support a state’s right and obligation to protect its citizens, but I have concerns with portions of the law passed in Arizona and believe it would not be the right direction for Texas," Perry said.

More staunch opponents of the Arizona law argue the measure would lead to racial profiling, which they argue violates civil rights.

Three City of Austin council members announced Thursday they would propose a boycott to limit employee travel to Arizona and terminate business and investment relationships with the state.

"Arizona’s new immigration law puts anyone traveling to the state in jeopardy of being detained, based on a law enforcement officer’s 'reasonable suspicion' that that person might be an undocumented immigrant," Council member Bill Spelman said. "That’s wrong, and I can’t responsibly allow our city employees to be placed at such a risk."

Supporters of the bill say it comes in response to drug-trafficking problems along the Mexican-American border.

Riddle said if the federal government did its job, "Arizona wouldn't have to take this action, and neither would Texas."

For some, however, the focus on anti-immigration laws and border security neglects the root of the drug-trafficking problem.

Juarez Mayor José Reyes Ferriz, who recently spoke at the University of Texas, said the United States has been more adamant about sealing its border than addressing the root of the issue, tackling America’s drug use problem. He also said efforts in Mexico to stem the flow of drugs into the United States along the border only leads cartels to seek new routes.

Thursday, student and community groups at the University of Texas protested Arizona’s new immigration law and spoke out against Rep. Riddle’s plan.

Opponents said the law is much too vague, and accused it of mandating racial profiling.

"The reasonable suspicion behind it - that is actually the verbiage of the law - itself is very ambiguous," Longhorn LULAC President Andreyez Alvaado said. "What would that entail? Would that be that my eye color is the wrong color? Or is it that I'm dressed in the wrong style of clothes that would not be characteristic of a citizen? Or is my speech pattern a little different? Is that what it is?"

Protesters said it is not fair to force legal immigrants to carry their documentation, causing what some called a "show me your papers" culture.