Thread: Arizona:20 Thousand march to protest immigration legislation

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Thousands march to protest immigration legislation

The Arizona Republic
Mar. 24, 2006 12:45 PM


Upwards of 12,000 people marched this afternoon through central Phoenix to Sen. Jon Kyl's office to protest immigration legislation that they say is inhumane and punitive.

Authorities have blocked off sections of 24th Street as the demonstrators walked from St. Agnes Catholic Church near McDowell Road and 24th Street to Kyl's office on Camelback Road.

The marchers are protesting a congressional proposal to make illegal immigration a felony. Similar demonstrations are taking place today in Tucson, Los Angeles, Atlanta and elsewhere.

Kyl, along with fellow Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, introduced a bill that in part would require workers to leave the U.S. to apply for temporary work permits.

The measure, approved by the House, would also impose new penalties on employers who hire illegal migrants and build a fence along about a third of the U.S. border with Mexico.

The bill is to be voted on Monday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The rally is the largest in a string of grass-roots protests, marches and boycotts by Hispanics since 2004, when voters passed Proposition 200, a law that prohibits undocumented immigrants from voting or receiving certain public benefits.

Across the country, pro-immigration supporters took to marching. More than 10,000 people filled the streets of Milwaukee in what was billed as “A Day Without Latinos” to protest efforts in Congress to target undocumented workers.

Hundreds of Los Angeles students walked out Friday morning to call attention to immigration issues.

In Georgia, activists said tens of thousands of workers didn’t show up at their jobs on Friday after calls for a work stoppage to protest a bill passed by the Georgia House on Thursday. That bill, which has yet to gain Senate approval, would deny state services to adults living in the U.S. illegally and impose a 5 percent surcharge on wire transfers from illegals.

Teodoro Maus, one of the organizers of the Georgia protest, estimated as many as 80,000 Hispanics did not show up for work Friday.

About 200 people converged on the steps of the Georgia Capitol, some wrapped in Mexican flags and holding signs reading: “Don’t panic, we’re Hispanic” and “We have a dream, too.”

Return for updates later.

Most companies work policy manuals will tell you that if you do not show up for work and don't call in it is a firing offense. I hope everyone of them that layed off from work and did not call in get fired! By God if I did that I would expect to be fired because I have a work ethic and abide by the rules! These people don't abide by the rules or the law and expect preferential treatment! HORSE SH_ _!

The Hollywood Pageant has gotten into full swing. Like I said before, these groups organizing these demonstrations have a long-standing (decades) of infrastructure and networking. They are funded by US government Grants - for "human rights groups"; La Raza's backers of Home Depot, GM, FORD, Walmart, &etc; the US Chamber of Commerce; the Catholic Church; Drug Cartels; Prostitution Sex Slave Organized Crime; The Mexican government......

They can put on a really BIG show, and this is only the beginning.

I recommend we put our energies into making sure these illegals are not registering to VOTE - and there is already every avenue open to them to do so, as we saw on the GOP registration site.

PS did the organizers get more American flags on camera this time?

Just remember folks, our founding fathers and the malitias had no outside funding to rally them together, they paid their own way, they supplied their own uniforms, guns, ammunition and most times, food.

Yet we prevailed over imperial England with all its monies and wealth, it's trained soliders. We fought and won, what many came to see as impossible odds, yet right won.

This can be us, yes we might have to pay our way through it, supply our own transportation, but make it to our goals we will.

I think the independent fighter for right, is the one listened to and respected most. People will take it seriously when they see we are willing to do what it takes, and sometimes at our own cost, to prevail in this battle. It shows integrity, I don't think that the illegals that were protesting today paid their own way, they just rallied because they were told it was the only way to secure their plush lives here in the U.S.

Notice how the only illegals that were mentioned as having been at the protest were Hispanic? Seems they are the only illegal aliens with the gall to come out of the shadows to demand rights in a country they do not belong in, in the first place. This kind of behavior takes little to no integrity.

God help US. President Bush refuses.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=61775



Thousands protest immigration reform plans
By Daryl James, Tribune
March 24, 2006
Thousands of protesters waved Mexican and American flags Friday as they marched through Phoenix in a call for more humane reform of federal immigration laws.

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"They want to make us criminals," Apache Junction resident Gonzalo Arellano, 38, said in Spanish. "We're not criminals. We are workers."

As he marched, he chanted into a bullhorn, "El pueblo unido jamås serå vencido." The phrase translates as: "The people united will never be defeated."

The turnout clogged major streets in central Phoenix in a rare mass rally for Arizona that surprised police and organizers alike. Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill estimated the crowd at 12,000 to 20,000 people, and marchers of all ages filled a solid mile on 24th Street near Camelback Road.

"I've been involved in protests like this for nearly 10 years, and I've never seen anything this big," said Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, who rallied the crowd.

But not everyone welcomed the protest.

"They have no rights," said Phoenix resident Michelle Clark. "They're illegal, and they're in our country. We want deportations."

Clark said police blocked off all routes to her Arizona Biltmore home as participants marched to the office of Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

"We're going to have war," she said.

Many protesters said they were incensed by what they see as punitive immigration reform proposals, especially one approved by the House in December that would make unlawful presence in the United States a felony.

Thousands chanted ‘‘Si, se puede,’’ one of the rallying cries of the United Farm Workers union that means ‘‘Yes, we can.’’

‘‘It’s unfair what they want to do,’’ said 50-year-old Phoenix resident Elida Lozano, who carried a sign saying ‘‘Humanitarian Aid is not a crime.’’

‘‘It’s racist,’’ Lozano said. ‘‘You’re not going to find terrorists outside a Home Depot looking for a job.’’

Other signs read ‘‘USA — Made by Immigrants’’ and ‘‘We are hard workers, we are equal.’’

Kyl, a Republican, is sponsoring a bill along with by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, that would give illegal immigrants up to five years to leave the country. Those immigrants could apply from their home country to return, either as temporary workers or for permanent residency.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Kyl is a member, is set to vote on the bill passed by the House on Monday.

Kyl’s press secretary said his office would have no immediate comment on the rally.

Malissa Geer, 29, of Phoenix, was among those in the crowd, saying she was there to support her Hispanic friends.

‘‘They’re here for the American dream,’’ she said as she held her 2-year-old daughter. ‘‘God created all of us. He’s not a God of the United States, he’s a God of the world.’’

The rally was called by the Border Action Network, which also organized a much-smaller rally in Tucson on Friday.

Jennifer Allen, director of the group, said at least 200 people associated with her organization attended the rally outside Kyl’s Tucson office, which also drew supporters from another half-dozen immigrants’ rights groups, including No More Deaths, the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project and Derechos Humanos.

Allen said she and others had met with Kyl’s staff on Tuesday to urge Kyl to support legislation that will be humane and just for immigrants.

‘‘We presented our demands, the same things we’ve been calling on him for years,’’ Allen said, adding that there was little dialogue with the senator’s staff.

Other than major traffic tie-ups, police reported no other problems. Hill said officers had made no arrests.

A delegation from Humane Borders went into Kyl’s Phoenix office, presented their positions and then left peacefully, Hill said.

Demonstrators were also held in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

The Los Angeles demonstration led to fights between black and Hispanic students at one high school, but the protests were largely peaceful, authorities said.

At least 500 students at Huntington Park High School near Los Angeles walked out of classes in the morning. Hundreds of the students, some carrying Mexican flags, walked down the middle of Los Angeles streets, police cruisers behind them.

In Georgia, activists said tens of thousands of workers did not show up at their jobs Friday after calls for a work stoppage to protest a bill passed by the Georgia House on Thursday.

The bill, which has yet to gain Senate approval, would deny state services to adults living in the U.S. illegally and impose a 5 percent surcharge on wire transfers from illegal immigrants.

Teodoro Maus, an organizer of the Georgia protest, estimated as many as 80,000 Hispanics did not show up for work. About 200 converged on the steps of the Georgia Capitol, some wrapped in Mexican flags and holding signs reading: ‘‘Don’t panic, we’re Hispanic’’ and ‘‘We have a dream, too.”

- The Associated Press and Tribune writers Dennis Welch and Brian Indrelunas contributed to this report.

Where's the National Guard ?

Boy, John and Ken are fired up tonight! The show is mainly focused on the march and people are calling in yelling and so pi**ed off about what is happening in LA!
Listen online: http://www.kfi640.com

Originally Posted by LegalUSCitizen

Where's the National Guard ?

Maybe our president told them to "STAND DOWN"

The whole bunch look like nasty, hateful people. This is not a country that caters to dual citizenship. Its also rude to wave the Mexican flag in front of tv cameras while chanting "we are here, we are not leaving". OH YEA, LETS WAIT AND SEE. Americans are not going to HAND OVER OUR NATION without a fight.