Thread: Immigration protest before BCS game

It's nice to see them loose for once.

I'm only posting this as a follow up because I didn't know others came out too. Good for them!

http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5909568

Immigrant protesters turned back from national championship game

GLENDALE -- Several immigration rights advocates received citations Monday as police blocked about 500 protesters from marching to the University of Phoenix Stadium, the site of the national college football championship game between Ohio State and Florida.


Protest organizer Carlos Garcia said he realizes Gator and Buckeye fans might not have immigration reform on their minds. But the national championship, and the intense media attention that comes with it, was too attractive of an event to pass.

"We hope they see this and educate themselves on why we're doing this," Garcia, 23, said. "We hope we get the message to Congress, and people understand what's going on in Arizona."

Behind him, protesters crammed along the sidewalk for a half mile. Waving handmade pro-immigration signs, they chanted "Si Se Puede (Yes, we can)" and "Queramos estudiar (We want to study)!"

Garcia and the immigration reform group Somos America wanted to draw attention to a new Arizona law they say will keep thousands of immigrant students from attending college.

Proposition 300, which was overwhelmingly approved in November with 71 percent of the vote, requires undocumented immigrants to pay out-of-state tuition, about three times the in-state amount.

The protesters want to repeal it and add a federal law that would give children of illegal immigrants the chance to become U.S. citizens.

"We are here because we were brought to this country as young children," said Lizbeth Javalera, 20, a junior at Arizona State University. "Why is it, then, that we are being punished for something we did not decide?"

Two dozen plainclothes police officers from Phoenix and Glendale watched as the protest spilled out of the Ministros Eben-Ezer church. Officers stopped them about a mile away, within eyesight of Glendale's shiny new stadium but out of circulation of the 100,000 football fans expected later that day.

In a prearranged ceremony, Garcia and several others handed over their IDs and signed police documents on the hood of a police cruiser as the protesters filed past, chanting "we are students, not criminals!" They were cited for operating a special event without a permit, a misdemeanor, and are set for a court appearance on Jan. 23.

"Obviously, today the marchers broke the law," Glendale spokeswoman Julie Frisoni said.

The City of Glendale refused to issue a permit allowing the march. Frisoni said it would be impossible to ensure the marchers' safety because the roads were exppected to be clogged with traffic and there are no sidewalks along the road to the stadium.

"They've got women and children, they are marching and they want to go up 91st Avenue with no sidewalk," Frisoni said. "We just can't have them do that, not today."

Once the protesters left for the stadium, Timothy Schwartz and a half dozen others arrived at the church with signs that praised Proposition 300.

"The vote was the will of the people," Schwartz said. "Don't try to undo our laws. You obey our laws, or you go back across the border."

They were cited for operating a special event without a permit, a misdemeanor, and are set for a court appearance on Jan. 23.

At what point do they find out how many of them are illegal and prepare them for deporation?

Originally Posted by MW

They were cited for operating a special event without a permit, a misdemeanor, and are set for a court appearance on Jan. 23.

At what point do they find out how many of them are illegal and prepare them for deporation?

Yeah right!

They should have used the ICE buses used during the Swift raids to hold all the illegals who showed up.

and Florida goes out and kicks butt 41-14

Florida Gators 2006 BCS Champions

Illegal immigration supporters just don't seem to understand the word NO!

No illegal immigration. No march...

No means no! I feel like I'm talking to 2 year olds.

Dixie

The next bit of news we'll be hearing on this will be when the ACLU files a lawsuit against the city for failing to observe the marchers rights.

Yep...sounds right MW!

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... otest.html

Hundreds join protest of migrant-tuition law
Police stop them before they reach BCS game stadium

Michael Kiefer
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 9, 2007 12:00 AM

Nearly 600 students and their supporters marched toward the site of the BCS National Championship Game in Glendale on Monday to protest a recently passed law denying in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants.

They chanted, "We are students, not criminals," and hours before the game they were turned back by Glendale police a mile from University of Phoenix Stadium.

But eight activists stepped across a symbolic line the city had drawn for them not to cross and were cited by police.
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"We will fight this in court," said activist Alfredo Gutierrez, first in Spanish and then in English. "We will fight these citations because we feel they're unconstitutional."

The students delivered a letter to BCS officials, asking for support of the proposed federal DREAM Act, which would help students who have graduated from U.S. high schools attain legal immigration status.

An African-American activist said that he will call on national civil rights leaders to block next year's Super Bowl from being played in Arizona.

"Here we are 10 years from when we had the Super Bowl taken from us, and we're no further ahead," said the Rev. Jarrett Maupin, referring to earlier battles over the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Arizona. "They can have their fun today, but they can't have their fun tomorrow."

The protesters started to gather at 10 a.m. Monday at a church near 80th Avenue and Camelback Road to protest Proposition 300, a ballot initiative passed in November requiring that students who cannot prove their legal immigration status pay out-of-state tuition at state colleges and universities. Several protesters addressed the crowd.

"Our parents can't afford $18,000 a year," said Ari, 18, a freshman at Arizona State University. None of the students used his or her last name because the students are not in the country legally, although they have spent most of their lives here.

"I would have to drop out," she said.

Miguel Z, an ASU junior, works two jobs to stay in school. He is in the country legally but is not a citizen, even though he spent four years in the Navy.

"I'm here because this does not just affect the undocumented, it affects the entire community," he said.

His older brother attended ASU, and his younger sister is a student there now.

As the marchers left the parking lot, they were met by Glendale Police Commander Matt Lively, who informed them that because they did not have a permit for the demonstration, they would have to stay on sidewalks and could not march any farther than Missouri Avenue.

Glendale requires that permits for such demonstrations be obtained 14 days in advance, which the march organizers did not do.

"Their whole point involved marching down 91st Avenue," said Glendale spokeswoman Julie Frisoni, referring to a main approach to the stadium. "There was no way the city could permit that."

The crowd marched two by two in orderly fashion, carrying signs and chanting, "Sí, se puede," and "Dream Act now."

Yellow-shirted organizers walked alongside carrying plastic bags to make sure no debris was left behind.

"I think this is an excellent opportunity to shed light on what impact Proposition 300 will have on these young people," said Danny Ortega, a Phoenix attorney and immigrant-rights activist, who was marching with the students.

The marchers turned up 83rd Avenue and when they reached Missouri Avenue, they were met again by police.

Gutierrez, Maupin and six other marchers - Salvador Reza, Hector Iturralde, Carlos Garcia, Martin Manteca, Tupac Enrique and Liana Rowe - locked arms and stepped onto the street. They were issued criminal citations for engaging in a special event without a permit and are scheduled to appear in court Jan. 23.

Then, the march turned around and returned to the church. On the way back, they were met by counterprotesters.