Thread: Immigration activists convicted in 2013 Tucson protest

Immigration activists convicted in 2013 Tucson protest

Ron Medvescek

Volunteer Amy McMullen feeds water to Kat Sinclair, left, one of six immigration protesters who fastened themselves to the fence of the Federal Courthouse vehicle entrance in an effort to shutdown a deportation process known as Operation Streamline for the day. Photo taken Friday, October 11, 2013. Photo by Ron Medvescek / Arizona Daily Star.

15 hours ago • By Patrick McNamara

Activists who blocked the entry to the parking lot of Tucson’s federal courthouse parking lot in a 2013 effort to halt the prosecutions of illegal immigrants have been found guilty of disorderly conduct.

Wendy Bedoya, Sandra Garnica, Katherine Sinclair, Walter Stanton, Ryan Tombleson and Rachel Winch were convicted of disorderly conduct on federal property and failure to follow direction of a federal police officer in connection with the Oct. 2013 protest.

In the incident, the group rushed the paring lot gate of the Evo A. DeConcini Federal Courthouse downtown. They chained themselves together and to either side of the gate to prevent federal officials from deporting illegal immigrants under “Operation Streamline.”

“We’re deeply disappointed,” Defense attorney Jeffrey Rogers said.
Rogers represented Bedoya and Garnica at the bench trial in late September.

They were among the demonstrators on hand to protest the U.S. government’s policy that requires criminal prosecutions and imprisonment for unlawful border crossers.

Other demonstrators blocked a bus carrying illegal immigrant defendants.
The policy, begun in 2005, has been cited as the cause of vastly increased caseloads at federal courthouses in the border region. The federal court here, hears an estimated 70 such cases a day. The protest halted the prosecutions for one day.

In a ruling dated Friday, U.S. Magistrate Leslie A. Bowman wrote that the defendants were not threatening in their manner, but still disobeyed police and obstructed government business.

“They disrupted the orderly proceedings of the federal courthouse by denying access to judicial officers and other court employees to the employee parking lot,” Bowman wrote.

Defense attorneys for the activists had argued there was inadequate signage around the courthouse where the defendants chained themselves to show it was government property.

Rogers argued the government didn’t meet the burden of proof and never established where federal property ended and public right of way such as the sidewalk began.

“They failed in many regards,” he said.

Bowman disagreed, writing that federal officials told the demonstrators they were on government property as they approached the parking lot.

“The evidence in this case showed that the defendants entered onto federal property at a driveway that was not for public access,” Bowman wrote, adding the law says notices have to posted at public entrances.

Rogers said he intends to appeal.

“These people are people of real social conscience,” he said. “They feel somewhat gratified that they shut down Operation Streamline for at least one day.”

The defendants are scheduled for sentencing Oct. 15 where they face fines and up to 30 days in jail.

http://tucson.com/news/immigration-a...f656eb1ad.html

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http://www.alipac.us/f12/6-tucson-ac...rotest-293330/