Thread: Illegal immigrants to protest at Ala. capitol

13 arrested in protest against Alabama's immigration law

Two activists are arrested for refusing to leave a state office building and 11 for blocking a street in Montgomery, in actions reminiscent of the city's civil rights-era confrontations.


By Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times

November 16, 2011
Reporting from Montgomery, Ala.—

One of the most dramatic protests against Alabama's tough illegal immigration law unfolded here Tuesday as 13 activists, most of them from out of state, were arrested for blocking a street near the Capitol and refusing to leave a legislative office building as a crowd chanted, "Undocumented, unafraid!"

The acts of civil disobedience were the culmination of a rally organized by the Dream is Coming project, a group of young illegal immigrants calling for passage of the DREAM Act, the proposed federal legislation that would create a path to citizenship for qualifying illegal immigrants who attend college or enroll in the military.

But the organizers were also targeting the Alabama law, which is considered the nation's strictest, and which has drawn activists into the state to organize and protest to a degree rarely seen here since the civil rights turmoil of the 1960s.

In recent weeks, organizers have been teaching illegal immigrants around the state how to form "neighborhood defense committees" to inform and support one another about the way the law is being applied. On Wednesday, the AFL-CIO plans to send a group of African American labor leaders to Birmingham to observe the law's effects. On Monday, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) is among those scheduled to appear at a rally at Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, where a bombing in 1963 killed four young black girls and helped fuel the civil rights movement.

As it has in other states, the Dream is Coming group hoped to show other illegal immigrants that they would be safer if they came out of the shadows and declared their undocumented status. The Obama administration's policy is to avoid deporting noncriminals; as an apparent result, group activists who were arrested in Atlanta this year were released by immigration authorities, even after publicly declaring their immigration status.

Sam Brooke, staff attorney with Montgomery's Southern Poverty Law Center, said the strategy carried "a real risk" in Alabama, where the new law requires that police report to federal authorities anyone they detain if they have a "reasonable suspicion" the person may be in the country illegally. Coming out at a public rally, he said, might "make it easier to identify you when you go home."

About 100 activists, including college-age students and a few families pushing strollers, circled the state Capitol in the afternoon, chanting slogans and waving signs, but they found a small audience in Alabama's sleepy capital city. By day's end, police had arrested two protesters for refusing to leave a state office building and 11 more who sat in the rain in the middle of South Union Street, across from the former residence of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

The police were firm but careful as they cuffed protesters with plastic bands and led them without incident to a school bus. Philip Bryan, the chief of staff for Republican Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh, said authorities were striving to avoid a public relations debacle.

"What you don't want is that front-page of Time [magazine] picture where they're being drug by the neck," Bryan said, perhaps alluding to incendiary images from the civil rights era.

Watching from the street were two illegal immigrants who gave their names only as Juan, 35, and Carlos, 27. The Montgomery residents said they weren't ready to announce themselves to the world given their fears about the law.

Carlos said that publicly declaring one's immigration status was thus far a rare response to the law.

Instead, he said of other illegal immigrants, "they've been leaving."

richard.fausset@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... eedfetcher[/img]

Undocumented immigrants descend on Alabama to protest controversial immigration law
Law has had immigrants fleeing state; 13 arrested at capitol

nydailynews.com
BY Erica Pearson
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, November 15 2011, 8:47 PM


Demonstrator is arrested after blocking traffic outside the Alabama statehouse.

A group of young undocumented immigrants — including some New Yorkers — descended on Alabama’s capitol Tuesday to demonstrate against the state’s controversial immigration law.

The Alabama law, considered the toughest immigration law on the books in any American state, has led undocumented immigrants to flee the state in droves.

Chanting “No papers, no fears!â€

group of young undocumented immigrants — including some New Yorkers — descended on Alabama’s capitol Tuesday to demonstrate against the state’s controversial immigration law.

One of those arrested was 19-year-old Catalina Rios, a student at Henry Ford Community College in Detroit. She identified herself an illegal immigrant from Mexico

They are a lot of out of state professional agitators - I think the illegal ones should be deported. Angry foreign nationals with a false sense of entitlement.

Originally Posted by Newmexican

They are a lot of out of state professional agitators - I think the illegal ones should be deported. Angry foreign nationals with a false sense of entitlement.

Illegal immigrants arrested at protest identified; 12 remain jailed

al.com
By Christine Kneidinger Hull, al.com
Published: Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 12:02 PM
Updated: Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 12:40 PM

Photos and Video @ link

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- The 13 protesters arrested yesterday after a demonstration outside legislative headquarters have been identified on a website by their supporters, who have now set up a fund to help bail them out of jail.

None is from Alabama. Twelve remained jailed at midday.

A Dream Activist website blog post
lists the group arrested after several hours of protesting the Alabama immigration law. All publicly declared their undocumented status yesterday in defiance of HB 56, which is considered to be the harshest anti-immigrant bill in the country.

The following names were listed on the Dream Activist website but have not been confirmed by police:

Martin Unzueta, 55, of Chicago; Belen Rebelledo, 39, of Detroit; Alma Diaz, 30, of Ohio; Jaime Guzman, 25, of Oregon; Catalina Rios, 19, of Detroit; Ernesto Zumaya, 25, of Los Angeles; Myasha Arellano, 18, of San Fernando Valley, Calif.; Krsna Avila, 23, of Oakland, Calif.; Fernanda Marroquin, 22, of Philadelphia; Cesar Marroquin, 21, of Philadelphia; and Cynthia Perez, 27, of Indianapolis, IN.
The 13 were arrested after a delegation from the larger group delivered a letter to the office of Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale. They waited for a response for three hours inside and outside of the State House, a crowd of approximately 200.

At 4:15 p.m., 11 of the 13 were arrested after an hourlong sit-in that blocked traffic in front of the State House on the corner of South Union and Washington Streets, sitting on a mat that read, "we will no longer stand in the shadows." All 11 were taken into police custody without incident and transported to the city jail on disorderly conduct charges. They were handcuffed by police using plastic yellow cuffs and loaded into a yellow Department of Public Safety school bus after they were given several warnings in both Spanish and English to vacate the street or be taken into police custody.

Two protesters who sat inside the State House waiting for Beason, sponsor of HB65, to respond to their letter, were incarcerated shortly after the building closed at 5:30 p.m.

Dream Activist spokesman Mohammad Abdollahi confirmed that since the arrests one person, said to be a minor, has since been released. Abdollahi also said that Montgomery attorney Mike Winters, has agreed defend the 12 still in custody without charge.

WSFA reports that Alabama Representative Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, has said that he plans to post bond for the 12 still in custody.

Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange told the Montgomery Advertiser the decision to arrest the 11 people outside the State House came after police stood on the sidelines as a precautionary measure for hours.

"When you are blocking a street and we're fixing to get into rush hour (traffic), we felt like it would not be in our community's interest (for them) to be occupying (the street)," Strange said. "Plus, at some point in time, how can you condone civil disobedience?"

30-year-old Alma Diaz said in a video on the Dream Activist site she knew she stood a chance of being arrested. “What has hiding in the shadows gotten us? We must fight back; it is the only way to end the pain we see in our communities," she said.

Many of the 13 people arrested were interviewed prior to the protest by Dream Activist in a series of videos that were posted on YouTube titled "If you are reading watching this, I've been arrested in Alabama.

http://blog.al.com/montgomery/2011/11/i ... ed_at.html

30-year-old Alma Diaz said in a video on the Dream Activist site she knew she stood a chance of being arrested. “What has hiding in the shadows gotten us? We must fight back; it is the only way to end the pain we see in our communities," she said.

“Fight back?â€

boy don't just don't get it ? they can not do this they should all be in jail
they think they own our country well they don't
Al & Fl you are doing the right thing fighting for our Country .
all the senator of every state should the same thing
as for the sign that is in spanish . may be they can not read english?
or write English who know ? but how come they don't do
this in Mexico ?
why no free med or food Stamp . i don't feel sorry for any of you
Igo to the store & I see what you buy boy it a lot more then I have
& yes it all food stamp
im sick of it I hear they have food bank at in Pa
you should see the.line who on it the Mexico that who & the town
& p//// about this
yes they are checking for ID
NO amnesty

This one filled all the squares, even has a 5 year old "citizen" daughter. Who paid for her trip from OH to AL to protest?

Undocumented Cincinnati Northside woman arrested in Alabama immigration protest
12:17 AM, Nov. 17, 2011


A 30-year-old undocumented Mexican immigrant from Northside was one of 13 people arrested Tuesday at the Alabama capitol in Montgomery in a protest against the state's immigration law.

Alma Diaz, a student at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and mother of a 5-year-old U.S. citizen daughter, on Wednesday sat in the Montgomery Police Department Municipal Jail awaiting her fate.

Without legal status, Diaz, who has lived in the United States since age 22, when she entered the United States illegally from Mexico, could be deported.

"ICE has not lodged detainers at this time," said Temple Black, spokesman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in New Orleans, which has jurisdiction in Alabama. "ICE will follow routine procedures to determine if anyone in the group is subject to removal and assess where they lie on the list of ICE Civil Enforcement Priorities."

"What happens to one of us affects all of us regardless of where we live," said Diaz, recently awarded with a college scholarship earlier this month by the Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati USA. "What has hiding in the shadows gotten us? We must fight back. It is the only way to end the pain we see in our communities. We should not feel powerless."

Diaz is active in the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center and there met her husband, Zachary Fisher. He works in retail and is caring for his wife's daughter.

"We made a decision as a family that instead of living in fear that she wouldn't come home one night because she'd been detained that we would do something," he said. "Alma said she had to do this."

Protesters essentially identified themselves during the protest as undocumented immigrants. They chanted, "Undocumented, unafraid."

Alabama's immigration law, considered by both supporters and detractors as the nation's harshest, requires law enforcement officers to check on the immigration status of any person they suspect to be undocumented. Students enrolling in Alabama public schools must prove they were born in the United States or are lawfully present in the United States.

Protestors from several states, including Pennsylvania and California, sat on a banner in a street near the Alabama Statehouse and were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct when they refused to heed a 10-minute warning to clear the right of way. Montgomery Police Chief Kevin Murphy told reporters on Tuesday that once a determination of identity was completed on each person, if they are found to be in the United States illegally, "We will comply with state law regarding immigration."

The Alabama protesters called themselves the Alabama Youth Collaborative and are attempting to organize an undocumented student organization similar to those formed around the country, including in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky at San Carlos Catholic Church in Carthage. Many group members would be eligible for a path to legal status if proposed federal legislation referred to as the Dream Act. President Barack Obama said he would sign the bill into law if approved by Congress.


http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2011 ... on-protest

Questions raised about immigrant status of HB 56 protesters in jail

al.com/montgomery
By Christine Kneidinger Hull, al.com
Published: Thursday, November 17, 2011, 1:38 PM
Updated: Thursday, November 17, 2011, 2:51 PM

Photos and Video @ link

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- An odd turn of events yesterday over the citizenship of the 13 self-proclaimed undocumented immigrants arrested at a demonstration Tuesday has brought to the surface many questions about the rally that brought 200 people to the Capitol earlier this week in protest of HB 56, Alabama's strict immigration law.

Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange told the Montgomery Advertiser that he received word from authorities that the people arrested at the event were actually U.S. citizens.

Montgomery Police Sgt. Donna Mackey, a department spokeswoman, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement has confirmed it will not become involved in the case, meaning that the arrested parties claiming undocumented status will not risk deportation because of the offense.

Another two protesters who sat back-to-back in the lobby of the State House for over two hours after delivering a letter to Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, and sponsor of the bill, were arrested by state troopers after the building closed at 5:30 p.m. The two, who claimed to be college students in the country illegally from Los Angeles and Philadelphia, were taken to the county jail on trespassing charges.

The 10 people taken to city jail will be released today at 3 p.m. after the group that organized the demonstration raised $5,600 to post bail. They will be tried in district court Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. The other two remain in the Montgomery County Detention Center.

Dream Activist spokesman Mohammad Abdollahi said that the group was forced to raise the money because the arrested parties were all undocumented immigrants, making it impossible for the group to go through a bail bondsman.

Abdollahi also said two people who were arrested in a similar demonstration in Mobile last Thursday were taken to a Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Louisiana after police confirmed that they were in the country illegally.

http://blog.al.com/montgomery/2011/11/p ... _undo.html

All 13 Arrested Alabama Immigration Protesters Released



MONTGOMERY, Ala. — All 13 people arrested during a protest of Alabama's tough immigration law have been released from jail.

Ten were released on $300 bond each Thursday afternoon from the city jail and left out the front door of the Montgomery Police Department chanting "undocumented, unafraid." Attorney Mike Winter says the final two were let out later.

An arrested juvenile was released Tuesday night to her parents.

They all were arrested for sitting down in the middle of the street in front of Alabama's Statehouse Tuesday.

Those arrested are mostly college students who say they came to the U.S. as children and do not have proof they are here legally.

A spokesman for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency hasn't lodged a detainer against any of the protesters.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/1 ... 01110.html

All 13 Arrested Alabama Immigration Protesters Released



All 13, mostly college and Latino, people arrested for sitting down in the middle of the street in front of Alabama's Statehouse Tuesday during a protest of Alabama's tough immigration law have been released from jail Thursday.

Ten were released on $300 bond each Thursday afternoon from the city jail and left out the front door of the Montgomery Police Department chanting "undocumented, unafraid." Attorney Mike Winter says the final two were let out later.

An arrested juvenile was released Tuesday night to her parents.

Those arrested are mostly college students who say they came to the U.S. as children and do not have proof they are here legally.

A spokesman for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency hasn't lodged a detainer against any of the protesters.

The students were among about 100 people, most of them Latino, who chanted slogans as they marched in light rain around the state Capitol and to the adjacent Statehouse where the legislature works.

"Undocumented, unafraid," ''No papers, no fear, immigrants are marching here," and "Ain't no power like the power of the people," were among the slogans the protesters chanted as they marched. Later, some were hauled off to jail in a yellow bus normally used by the city parks and recreation department.

Some sat down on Union Street between the Statehouse and the Capitol when police approached and warned them in English and Spanish that they would be arrested if they didn't move.

Federal courts have blocked parts of the Republican-backed law from taking effect, but both supporters and critics still call it the nation's toughest state law against illegal immigration. The Obama administration opposes the law, which it calls an overreach by the state.

Meanwhile, some of the Republicans who voted for Alabama's new immigration law say they are looking at making changes that they say will make the law easier to understand but won't weaken it.

Republican Sen. Gerald Dial says some mistakes were made in the bill and he's working with other senators to try to address them.

He doesn't want people renewing their professional licenses or buying car tags to have to prove their legal residency every year. Another Republican senator, Dick Brewbaker, says the documents needed to buy a vehicle and the documents needed to get a tag aren't the same, and they should be.

The bill's House sponsor, Republican Micky Hammon, says he wants to clarify that all military IDs are acceptable forms of legal residency, but he's opposed to major changes.

This story contains material from The Associated Press.

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