Thread: Former city council candidate aims to repeal immigration law

Former city council candidate aims to repeal immigration law
Reported by: ABC15.com staff, wire reports
Last Update: 5:56 am

Former city council candidate aims to repeal immigration law
Supporters and opponents speak out about immigration bill
Activists call on Obama to fight divisive immigration law
Protesters urge boycotts against new AZ immigration law


PHOENIX -- Former city council candidate Jon Garrido has announced he has started the process to gather nearly 77,000 signatures to repeal Senate Bill 1070 for a referendum on the November ballot.

Garrido says he has an "army" behind him, ready to gather signatures over the next two weeks of those opposing the tough immigration enforcement law.

The move, which could let Arizonans decide whether the new law should stand, is only the beginning of the challenges Governor Jan Brewer expected when she signed the bill Friday.

"I've been notified by several different groups that they will challenge the constitutionality of it, and that's why we have three areas of government," Brewer said.

Mayor Phil Gordon said he will take the issue to the City Council on Tuesday, putting an item on the agenda authorizing the city attorney to prepare a lawsuit.

"This will be in the court, I fear, for a long time, and cost the residents of Arizona lots of taxpayer dollars," Gordon said.

Meanwhile reactions from around the nation are growing as Arizona takes center stage in the immigration debate.

Activists have called on President Barack Obama to fight the law targeting undocumented immigrants, promising Sunday to march in the streets and invite arrest by refusing to comply if the measure goes into effect.

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona told about 3,500 protesters gathered at the state Capitol that the Obama administration can help defeat the law by refusing to cooperate.

"We're asking that his federal agencies, particularly Homeland Security, not cooperate with the implementation of this law. That's defeating this. That's the strategy," Grijalva said.

"We hope that the federal government will start working on immigration reform," Rachael Pollack said as she carried a banner Sunday afternoon. "We need it."

Civil rights advocates have vowed to challenge the law in court, saying it would undoubtedly lead to racial profiling.

"I expect it to be overturned. You look at it, it's unconstitutional," Lelani Clark said. She was arrested this week for refusing to leave a protest at the Capitol.

National figures are also chiming in on the controversy. Rev. Al Sharpton said that just as freedom riders battled segregation in the 1960s, he would organize "freedom walkers" to challenge the Arizona bill.

"We will go to Arizona when this bill goes into effect and walk the streets with people who refuse to give identification and force arrest," Sharpton said Sunday in New York.

Gov. Jan Brewer signed the bill into law Friday.

It requires police to question people about their immigration status -- including asking for identification -- if they suspect someone is in the country illegally. The law also toughens restrictions on hiring illegal immigrants for day labor and knowingly transporting them.

Supporters have dismissed concerns of racial profiling, saying the law prohibits the use of race or nationality as the sole basis for an immigration check.

Groups have been gathering since last week to protest the move, including a candlelight vigil Saturday night where speakers urged passive resistance, boycotts and legal challenges.

The crowds have changed throughout the week; on Thursday they urged vetoing the bill as Governor Jan Brewer considered whether to sign it, on Friday they protested the bill's signing and now they are attempting to mobilize action against it.

On Friday, three people, including one teenager, were arrested during immigration protests at the state capitol.

Hundreds of students ditched school to protest SB1070. Officials say up to 2,000 people gathered on the capitol grounds.

"Everybody that comes into this country is an immigrant, not just Mexicans," Francisco Lopez said. "I am here to support them morally, trying to get my family, friends, everybody reform."

In the minutes leading up to Governor Jan Brewer's signing of the controversial immigration bill at 1:30 p.m., protestors knelt in prayer.

Shortly after the signing, a man supporting the bill started taunting the protesters, saying "get the f*** out of my country."

Those students then started throwing bottles at the man until police calmed the tension.

The man was led away, and one student was arrested for hitting a Phoenix police officer with a water bottle.

The officer was not injured.

"There's a lot of people who are going to be split up ... for them to act like this, it's like they don't care about their fellow neighbors," said protester and student Celina Molina, fighting back tears.

Barbara Randel, a supporter of the bill, said, "I am not against legals coming here legally, but then they come over by the droves, and so many of them are criminals ... that is a crying shame."

At around 3:30 p.m. officers faced an angry crowd as they tried to arrest a man suspected of stealing an ice cream cart from another man.

WATCH RAW VIDEO OF THE CROWD REACTION

Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Robert Bailey said as the Phoenix Police Officer tried to arrest the man, the crowd began throwing items at him, hitting him.

A suspect throwing a bottle was taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault on an officer. Bailey said the suspect with the ice cream cart was arrested on a charge of theft.

Bailey said police formed a line and another suspect, who forced his way through the line was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct.

He said the crowd, which was estimated at its peak to be between 1,500 and 2,000, gradually dispersed, but law enforcement and fire crews would continue to work to maintain a safe environment on the capitol grounds.

Crowds began to gather in force on Thursday, including high school students who left school to protest at the capitol and along Phoenix streets.

Phoenix Union High School District spokesman Craig Pletenik said approximately 2,400 students from eight schools walked out of class; the schools included Trevor G. Browne, Cesar Chavez, Maryvale, Metro Tech, North, Camelback, Central and Alhambra high schools.

As many as 300 students left Cesar Chavez High School.

That move came despite loud speaker warnings from their principal to stay in class.

Carrying protest signs, the students then started a four mile long march to the state Capitol.

Up to 700 students also left Trevor Brown and Maryvale high schools to protest the bill.

Those students marched along Indian School Road, toward a Food City at 67th Avenue.

Pletenik said administrators tried to discourage the students from leaving the campuses. He said it will be considered an unexcused absence from school.


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Just make sure all signors are legal residents and registered voters, and have at it.

What happens if the issue is on the ballot and overwhelmingly approved? Many polls suggest Arizona residents and legal voters support enforcement of Federal Immigration Laws.
Does anyone believe that illegal immigrants will ever accept the will of the people if it means enforcement, not amnesty?

They can fight this law and it will cost them to do it. It is not unconstitutional for the State to enforce Federal Law. It is not a civil right to illegally immigrate to the U.S. It is not racial profiling if half the residents in the state are Hispanic and Hispanics are the majority of the law breakers. It is a proven fact that illegal immigrants from Mexico into Arizona are primarily Mexican. However they can be Chinese, Iranian, Syrian, Russian, or any nationality.
The law does not make being Hispanic illegal in Arizona unless you do not have legal documents to be in this country. Legal immigrants are already required to carry documents. It is Federal Immigration Law.