4 protesters arrested outside Phoenix I.C.E. facility

4 protesters arrested outside Phoenix Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility

http://media2.abc15.com//photo/2013/...50_320_240.JPG
Protesters outside Phoenix ICE facility.
Photographer: ABC15

Posted: 6:30 PM
Last Updated: 2 hours and 6 minutes ago
By: abc15.com staff, wire reports

PHOENIX - Authorities have arrested four protesters who chained themselves to a gate outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Phoenix.

The four were taken into custody by federal authorities and Phoenix police after trying to disrupt operations at the ICE site for nearly two hours Wednesday afternoon.

Authorities say the four immigration activists chained themselves to a vehicle-access gate leading into agency's Phoenix Field Office. Police say they were later released.

TV video showed authorities using metal cutters to snap the chain before the four were arrested.

About 40 other protesters remain gathered on the sidewalk outside the ICE facility with plans for a Wednesday night vigil.

The activists are urging Congress to pass immigration reform that keeps families together, ends enforcement and creates a pathway to citizenship for those in the U.S. illegally.

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region...#ixzz2cfKswZxb

4 arrested at protest outside Phoenix ICE facility Westport-News - ‎57 minutes ago‎ Immigration activists shut down ICE detention center, four arrested NBC Latino - ‎1 hour ago‎ Protesters chain themselves to fence at ICE HQ AZFamily - ‎2 hours ago‎ Immigrant rights activists protest outside ICE building MyFox Phoenix - ‎2 hours ago‎ Show recently hidden articles See all 6 articles »

What only four? Yet it garnered a news story. From the pictures, they didn't have a big crowd. Another show put on for propaganda, like all the kids that they are dragging to town halls.

6 immigration activists arrested at protest outside Phoenix ICE facility

PHOENIX - The immigration debate heats up in the valley as protesters chained themselves to a fence and it took police with bolt cutters to get them to leave.

This group demanded an end to immigration raids and deportations. They're also calling on Congress to create a path to citizenship for those in the U.S. illegally.

Several dozen people were out at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building near Central Avenue and McDowell Road. Four decided to escalate their demands for immigration reform and actually chained themselves to the gates -- knowing full well they could get arrested -- and they did -- but what happened afterwards shocked many of the protesters.

Among the protesters' demands, a pathway to legalization for 11 million undocumented people living in the U.S.

Jaquelina Sanchez hugged her mother Alejandra -- unsure of what will happen next. Her mother is undocumented.

"It's just really so hard to be in different situations," she said. "We are never all completely safe because if one of us isn't safe then we are all unsafe."

Law enforcement officials backed the crowd away, then cut the demonstrators' chains -- arresting them one by one. Alejandra, two undocumented students and one U.S. citizen were all taken to the detention center.

"I'm really proud of her. Glad she's standing up for herself and others in her situation and others who can't stand up for themselves, but also very worried and afraid.. just really mixed feelings," said Jaquelina.

In the middle of our interview, a surprise no one expected. All four arrested were released. The mother and daughter reunited less than an hour later.

The mother told me, "We demonstrated that we have power. I'm undocumented and now they know."

At the end of Wednesday night, two men continued to sit in front of an immigration bus and were eventually arrested. They were released shortly after.

One of the men spoke to FOX 10 before his arrest.

"I'm gonna get arrested and I'm not scared. I'm undocumented unafraid. Its time for Congress to act and this is a message to them," said Raymond Jose.

Just as we saw with the raids earlier this week at Danny's Car Washes, ICE prioritizes deportations, so those without criminal records or past immigration violations will often not face deportation.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/23224347/2013/08/21/immigrant-rights-activists-protest-outside-ice-building

By Stephen Dinan
The Washington Times
Thursday, August 22, 2013

Illegal immigrants chained themselves to a gate and blocked a bus in Phoenix on Wednesday in an effort to stop the Obama administration from deporting other illegal immigrants, according to activists who said the move marks an escalation in civil disobedience.

Six illegal immigrants were arrested for protesting, including four who chained themselves to the gate at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's facility, and another two who led an effort to stand in front of the bus, activists said. All were released by the Federal Protective Service, which polices government buildings.

All of them are here illegally, though they have been granted tentative legal status under President Obama’s non-deportation policy for young adults, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

“I am doing this because I am so fed up with people playing games with our lives,” Ray Jose, one of those arrested, said in a statement released by one of the activist groups. “My mom and my dad are getting tired. My dad cannot do physical labor any more. It is for the sake of my family, who sacrificed so much for me, that I am ready to do this.”

Young illegal immigrants who qualified for Mr. Obama’s non-deportation policy, and are now here in a tentative legal status, have become some of the most outspoken advocates for an overhaul of the immigration system.

Even as Congress debates what to do about immigration, the activists are demanding the Obama administration put a halt to all deportations, arguing that their family members are still in danger of deportation.

Until now, the efforts to halt deportations have chiefly been confined to protests or lobbying members of Congress to pressure the administration into releasing specific illegal immigrants.

Last week, that pressure succeeded in halting the deportation of an illegal immigrant in Ohio who is the chief provider for his family, including a son who has cerebral palsy.

The man previously had been deported but sneaked back into the country, making him a prime candidate for deportation under the administration’s policy of targeting repeat offenders. But the lobby campaign by activists succeeded in winning a one-year stay of deportation for the man.

This week’s action in Arizona went further, however. The Fox television affiliate in Phoenix reported that authorities had to use bolt cutters to unchain the activists from the gate.

All told, six activists were arrested but all were released, the station reported.

A call to the Phoenix ICE office was not returned.

Last month, several dozen activists blocked Independence Avenue in front of the U.S. Capitol in an act of civil disobedience. They were arrested.

The protesters in Arizona this week were arrested for obstructing the entrance to a federal building and refusing to leave when ordered. The Federal Protective Service released them after a records check showed they didn’t have criminal histories.

They were never taken into custody by immigration authorities.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...x-deportation/