Tampa area Hispanics asked to rally against Arizona immigration law

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/apr/27 ... ews-metro/


TAMPA - Local advocacy groups are encouraging Hispanics in the Tampa Bay area to attend rallies this weekend in Miami and Washington, D.C., opposing Arizona's new immigration law.

The Tampa chapter of the Florida Immigrant Coalition is organizing group trips for the rally Saturday in downtown Miami. Meanwhile, the Tampa office of Democracia USA is sending a group for a protest in Washington.

Ernesto Vargas, the regional coordinator of Democracia USA, said Arizona's law is a mistake and contrary to the American ideals of liberty and justice.

"The solution is not to use force and intimidate," Vargas said. "A country that is so diverse is sending out a xenophobic message."

The law, signed Friday by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, will require local and state law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if they suspect they are in this country illegally.

Day laborers can be arrested for soliciting work if they are in the United States illegally, and police departments can be sued if they don't carry out the law. Immigrants who can't produce documents showing they are allowed to be in the United States could be arrested, jailed for up to six months and fined $2,500.

The law will take effect in late July or August.

Matilda Garcia, the district director for the Tampa chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said it is the federal government's job, not local or state law enforcement, to guard U.S. borders.

"I don't think local police can have authority to hold a person because of immigration," she said. "It would be profiling. They could stop anybody and hold them."

Vargas said he would support a reform bill that allows the status of any illegal immigrant to be reviewed without the threat of arrest and a plan that would allow undocumented individuals to stay but pay a fine or taxes.

Vargas said passage of Arizona's law has motivated his organization, along with individuals, to work harder to get immigration reform passed at the federal level.

"It was a call to action," he said. "I don't' think anyone has sat around thinking that we've lost."

The Florida Immigrant Coalition is organizing trips to Miami from Tampa, Orlando and Fort Myers and Fort Pierce. The rally begins at 2 p.m. Saturday at Northwest Second Avenue and Northwest Third Street in downtown Miami.