Thread: Activists launch protests against Arizona's Immigration law

By Tony Castro Staff Writer
Posted: 07/26/2010 07:52:00 PM PDT

Unfurling "Stop Racist Arizona Law" banners from freeway overpasses Monday, immigration reform activists kicked off a week of demonstrations against a new law that takes effect Thursday unless a federal judge intervenes.

The freeway protesters say the law unfairly targets all Latinos, but Arizona lawmakers see it as essential to securing the state's porous border with Mexico.

"What they are doing to Latinos in Arizona could happen to Latinos in ... other states," said protest spokeswoman Paulina Gonzalez of the We Are All Arizona Collective.

More banners will greet commuters today and Wednesday on the Hollywood (101) Freeway downtown, and other protesters will gather at the Federal Building on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood at 5 p.m. today and Wednesday.

In addition, busloads of labor union members from Los Angeles who oppose Arizona's Senate Bill 1070 will travel to Phoenix to make their point, CNN reported.

The idea is to dare police officers in the capital to detain them and put the controversial law to the test, Maria Elena Durazo, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, told CNN.
"We will not be carrying `papers,"' said Durazo, a rally organizer. "We will let them know we are coming, and we will tell them: Arrest us for being brown or black, arrest us for being suspicious."

The protesters include immigrant students, religious leaders, day laborers and members of several unions, including the United Food and Commercial Workers, Teamsters and Utility Workers Union of America.

Opponents hope U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton, who has heard arguments on both sides, will move to block at least some provisions of the law.

The Federal Building protests are sponsored by the Southern California Immigration Coalition, made up of 70 grass-roots activist groups.

The group said it is planning a "major action" in Los Angeles on Thursday, whether or not Bolton issues a ruling.

"We feel that what we are doing is demonstrating a show of solidarity against this law," said Celina Benitez of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, one of the groups in the coalition.

The Arizona law, though, is not without its ardent supporters in the area, particularly local conservative groups.

"I don't understand why anyone would oppose this law - it spells out what the federal government should be doing," said Karen Brewster of the Encino/Sherman Oaks Republican Women. "The poor people of Arizona are just trying to get a handle on the illegal alien problem there.

"Wasn't it Roosevelt who said that a country without borders isn't a country any more? That's what this law is trying to do. Get control of our borders."

The Justice Department last week asked Bolton to block Arizona's law from taking effect on grounds it interferes with federal immigration policy.

Attorneys defending Arizona and the state's governor, Jan Brewer, are requesting the case be dismissed and the law enforced as planned.

The law allows law enforcement to request proof of legal immigration, residency, or citizenship of anyone they suspect might be an illegal immigrant.

Justice Department lawyers say the government wants to catch and deport immigrants who have committed crimes, but not arrest hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who are otherwise abiding by the law.

The Obama administration has assigned National Guard troops to the Southwest border starting Aug. 1, and the federal government is sending other reinforcements to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and narcotics entering Arizona.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/latestnews/ci_15607802

[quote="topsecret10"].... "What they are doing to Latinos in Arizona could happen to Latinos in ... other states," said protest spokeswoman Paulina Gonzalez of the We Are All Arizona Collective... /quote]

Oh please let it be so!

The idea is to dare police officers in the capital to detain them and put the controversial law to the test, Maria Elena Durazo, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, told CNN.
"We will not be carrying `papers,"' said Durazo, a rally organizer. "We will let them know we are coming, and we will tell them: Arrest us for being brown or black, arrest us for being suspicious."

Amazing isn't it? Daring the police, stupid stupid stupid and shows a total disrespect for laws. Guess this kind of attitude is encouraged since our federal government doesn't enforce their own immigration laws.

"The freeway protesters say the law unfairly targets all Latinos"


I really hate to say it because I"m not a racist person but maybe its time this country did start to target hispanics................ Why do they feel they have the right to live here, suck our country dry and then scream bloody murder when we want to enforce our immigration laws?

Somebody help me understand because I am starting to get a deep and ugly hate of latinos , not all but the enablers and abettors along with the illegals

I don't want to be like that

I am with you. I have never been racist in my whole life but these people are making me hate them. Who do they think they are? We are required to obey the law and they openly flaunt their disobediance of our laws and utter disrespect for our country. They all should be picked up and deported pronto. They are doing themselves no favors with their protetsts. People are becoming sick of them.

It's not racism if you hate foreign invaders and their treasonous American accomplices, it is patriotism. They are the ones who try to make it a racial issue when actually it is a US sovereignty issue, don't fall into their trap.