By Lourdes Medrano
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.17.2006

A coalition of local and national groups will gather in Tucson tonight to highlight what they say is the negative effect of the nation's immigration policies on immigrants and ethnic populations.
The Armory Park gathering will bring together advocate groups for blacks, Asians, Hispanics and American Indians to provide a voice seldom heard in this summer's Republican-led congressional hearings on immigration, organizers said.
The three-hour hearing is part of an effort to underscore what advocates believe is the potential harm of current and pending immigration legislation to the rights, well-being and safety of minorities, said Alexis Mazón of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos in Tucson.
"We want to send the message to Congress that we want an end to border militarization and to these immigration-enforcement policies that result in mass detention, incarceration and racial profiling in our communities," said Mazón, a spokeswoman for the human-rights group. "If you're an immigrant or a person of color, you will be subject to these repressive policies," she added.
Arnoldo Garcia, a senior program associate with the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights in Oakland, Calif., said the hearing will shed light on how acts of discrimination against immigrants and other minorities have intensified in recent years.
"These policies are destabilizing our communities," he said.
Gerald Lenoir, executive director of Oakland's Black Alliance for Just Immigration, added: "What most people don't realize is that law enforcement policies piloted on border and immigrant communities are being extended into our neighborhoods and cities."
Mazón said the recorded testimony and recommendations for humane immigration reform will be shared with local, state and federal officials.