Thread: ACLU Lawyer Arrested At Day Labor Protest

Wouldn't you thing the lawyer would have understood that!

Ok Singing, "It's Saturday night and I don't have no body" That's a fairly accurate statement there SOSAD most lawyers resemble “The Thing"
:P :P :P :P :P :P :P

Hope someone took a video

GO JOE GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ACLU official arrested at migrant demonstration
Emily Gersema
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 3, 2007 07:53 PM

The legal director of the state American Civil Liberties Union office was arrested Saturday on trespassing charges during a demonstration supporting day laborers.

For the second weekend in a row this year, the M.D. Pruitt's store at 34th Street and Thomas Road was the site of a protest with potential for confrontation between local authorities and immigrants' supporters.

Demonstrators said the crowd of 15 to 20 people dissipated around 1 p.m., which is when Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies arrested Daniel Pochoda, 65, of Phoenix, on suspicion of trespassing on store grounds.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Pochoda was taken in handcuffs to the county's Fourth Avenue Jail after deputies asked him six times to move his car off Pruitt's parking lot and get off the property.The protest leader, Salvador Reza, couldn't confirm what happened. He said demonstrators didn't see the exchange or even know about the arrest.

Off-duty deputies hired for security at Pruitt's and surrounding businesses had warned demonstrators, counter-protesters and reporters there that morning to stay off the property during the demonstration. Most obeyed, standing on the public sidewalk, but Pochoda refused, said Arpaio, who wasn't at the furniture store during the arrest, but appeared there later to

to respond to media questions.

Pochoda could not be reached for comment. Arpaio's deputies have arrested dozens of undocumented day laborers in recent months using federally-trained deputies. Word of the arrests of workers and corn vendors has spread through the Valley's immigrant population through neighbors, friends and Spanish-language media, causing fear and anxiety.

The arrests by deputies also have raised concerns among some Valley law enforcement officials that some crimes against undocumented immigrants will go unreported because of fear of deportation.

The y sheriff's office and the ACLU have had a contentious relationship. Pochoda, who started working for the ACLU in February, was one of the attorneys involved in a suit to free a TB patient from the sheriff department's order that a TB patient be held in isolation in a hospital unit.

The ACLU also said that the sheriff is misapplying a state law aimed at punishing anyone caught smuggling immigrants into the United States. Sheriff's deputies have arrested hundreds of suspected illegal immigrants on suspicion of smuggling themselves in recent months.

Pruitt's, has been the backdrop of a simmering dispute between immigration supporters and local shop owners who complain that persistent presence of day laborers in the area is interfering with business. A handful of counter-protesters briefly held signs Saturday morning, demanding enforcement of immigration laws, but soon left the scene. A woman who refused to give her name said members didn't want draw any more attention to the day laborers.

The neighborhood business owners have hired off-duty sheriff's deputies for security while the demonstrations continue. Protesters vowed to march there every Saturday until Christmas.

Last week, Arpaio and a group of his on-duty deputies showed up at the demonstration. Arpaio said he was concerned that trouble would erupt because he had heard 2,000 protesters would be there. But turnout was small - about two dozen - and only one person was arrested, Arpaio said. The man was cuffed after yelling in opposition of the protest.

However, the county deputies trained in federal immigration law arrested more than 100 illegal immigrants in the neighborhood whose status was discovered after they were pulled over for traffic violations.

Arpaio said anyone accusing him of preying on the demonstrators and surrounding neighborhood should know that he and his team are enforcing immigration laws everywhere.

The off-duty deputies weren't involved in the arrests, Arpaio said, and they are being paid for security by the businesses, not the county.

Reza complained that the sheriff ended up using the protest to stage a "dog and pony show" where he and his deputies intimidated demonstrators. "The only thing he didn't have with him was his tank," Reza said.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... 1104.html#

Reza complained that the sheriff ended up using the protest to stage a "dog and pony show" where he and his deputies intimidated demonstrators. "The only thing he didn't have with him was his tank," Reza said.

Good idea! Get Joe a tank. Perfect to bust up illegal alien illegal demonstrations!

Ha! Can't say I feel bad about that.

What goes around, comes around.

Originally Posted by for The Arizona Republic, Emily Gersema

The ACLU also said that the sheriff is misapplying a state law aimed at punishing anyone caught smuggling immigrants into the United States. Sheriff's deputies have arrested hundreds of suspected illegal immigrants on suspicion of smuggling themselves in recent months.

I agree, for once, with the ACLU that Sheriff Joe Arpaio is misapplying the state law against smuggling persons by using it against the persons being smuggled. That's the kind of legal contortionism that one expects only from the ACLU.

Originally Posted by Bulldogger

Wouldn't you thing the lawyer would have understood that!

Ok Singing, "It's Saturday night and I don't have no body" That's a fairly accurate statement there SOSAD most lawyers resemble “The Thing"
:P :P :P :P :P :P :P

I think your right!!

[quote=MinutemanCDC_SC]

Originally Posted by "for The Arizona Republic, Emily Gersema":3uy8qkye

The ACLU also said that the sheriff is misapplying a state law aimed at punishing anyone caught smuggling immigrants into the United States. Sheriff's deputies have arrested hundreds of suspected illegal immigrants on suspicion of smuggling themselves in recent months.

I agree, for once, with the ACLU that Sheriff Joe Arpaio is misapplying the state law against smuggling persons by using it against the persons being smuggled. That's the kind of legal contortionism that one expects only from the ACLU.[/quote:3uy8qkye]

No I don't think he is misapplying the law he is just mmmm Creatively applying the law ! He is right what is the difference in someone smuggling you into the country or smuggling yourself,both are Illegal ? Goooo Joe !

Arrest at protest due to ACLU ties, lawyer contends
Yvonne Wingett
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 5, 2007 12:00 AM

The legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona on Sunday said his arrest by Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies at a weekend protest was unwarranted and occurred only after he identified himself as a high-ranking officer with the organization.

Daniel Pochoda showed up at a Saturday demonstration in front of Pruitt's furniture store in east Phoenix to observe interaction between protesters and law enforcement officers, he said. He was there at the request of organizer and activist Salvador Reza, who said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio uses the deputies to intimidate demonstrators.

Pochoda, 65, was taken in handcuffs to the county's Fourth Avenue Jail after off-duty deputies hired by store owners asked him six times to move his car off the parking lot, Arpaio said, and he refused. advertisement




About 1 p.m., Pochoda was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of trespassing. A friend posted $150 bail around 4:30 p.m.; he was released about 12:15 a.m. Sunday.

Pochoda said this was his first arrest.

Pochoda declined to give details about the lead-up to the arrest because he hadn't yet seen the sheriff's reports. He plans on using a criminal attorney to fight the charge.

"Nothing unlawful occurred on my part, but that was not the story that was told," said Pochoda, of Phoenix.

"It was not deliberate. It was not provoked or wanted. The arrests and handcuffs came after I identified myself with the ACLU and gave the two sheriff's deputies my card as the legal director."

The arrest comes as Arpaio faces criticism for his office's arrest of two New Times executives for publishing details of a grand-jury subpoena that demanded Internet records of anyone who had visited the newspaper's Web site since 2004. The arrests were perceived by many to be politically motivated, and fueled a backlash that helped force Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas to drop the case.

"What's politics have to do with it?," Arpaio said. "I hear he was trying to debate, and then wouldn't stop. It was a person who (was) asked to move six times. He did not get off the premises."

Saturday's protests were part of a series of rallies staged by activists and day laborers to oppose the arrests of undocumented workers by sheriff's deputies. Several dozen day laborers have been arrested by federally trained sheriff's deputies over recent months, which has amplified migrants' fears of deportation.

The ACLU, which has had a contentious relationship with the Sheriff's Office over the years, has said that the sheriff is misapplying a state law aimed at punishing those who smuggle immigrants into the U.S. The Sheriff's Office is arresting immigrants under the law, saying they conspired to smuggle themselves into the country.

Pochoda has practiced and taught civil rights and constitutional law for 35 years. On the local and national legal scene, he is a highly regarded attorney

Pochoda is a Harvard Law School graduate. He has worked as an attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and has taught law at The City University of New York School of Law and Santa Clara University School of Law.

He was also an adjunct professor in 2001 at Arizona State University's School of Justice and Social Inquiry.

Pochoda is a member of the legal team that is challenging the constitutionality of Arizona's employer-sanctions law, which will be argued in federal court Nov. 14.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... t1105.html