Thread: Immigration rally at furniture store gets heated

MCSO Arrests 16 Illegal Immigrants
October 30th, 2007 @ 5:02pm
by Bob McClay/KTAR

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said it has arrested 16 illegal immigrants since last week - just two blocks from the Pruitt's Furniture store that was the site of last Saturday's immigrant rights protest.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the arrests were made during routine traffic stops by the department's illegal immigrant task force. "We arrested six in that area last week and now we arrested ten more… on traffic violations and we determined they were illegal. We have the authority, the training and we locked them up."

Ten people, who were arrested Tuesday morning, were in four cars that were stopped for an unsafe lane change and other violations.

Arpaio said it's merely a coincidence that the arrests happened just three hours before a scheduled press conference by immigrant rights groups in front of the store near 36th Street and Thomas Road.

http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=633789

Related• MCSO Arrests 16 Illegal Immigrants Immigrants' Activist: Sheriff Is Losing It
October 30th, 2007 @ 5:34pm
by Bob McClay/KTAR

Immigrants rights protesters arrived Tuesday at Pruitt's Furniture in east Phoenix, questioning Sheriff Joe Arpaio's age and his competence.

They wanted to know why Arpaio staged a show of force last Saturday when activists marched in protest of Pruitt's owners calling the sheriff to crack down on day laborers who gather in the area. The activists said the sheriff had a command post, a cavalry unit and a number of motorcycles and officers.

So Mos America's Salvatore Reza said the same day, Phoenix police sent only four officers to a nearby anti-war protest that had twice as many protesters. He said police Chief Jack Harris was "more professional," and, "we need more professionalism at that level."

Arpaio's not surprised at Reza's comments about Harris. "Well, he likes Jack Harris and the mayor because they're not doing anything. That's what he calls professional."

So Mos America's Salvatore Reza said the sheriff is getting up in years. "You know, he's like Ronald Reagan was toward the end. He was losing it," Reza said.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said claims by immigrant rights activists that he's too old to do his job amount to age discrimination.

An outraged Sheriff Arpaio banged on his desk as he reacted to suggestions that his age prevents him from doing his job.

"Senior citizens can't work and do the job? So they have not only insulted me, they have insulted every senior citizen in this county and I hope these senior citizens understand that," Arpaio said.

Arpaio said the immigrants are playing the age card because they have nothing else. He said it's fun to go after illegal immigrants and perform his other duties as sheriff.

"But, you know what? I love it when they pick on me because I'm getting to them, right? I'm getting to them," Arpaio said. "You don't go after the sheriff, because I'm going to keep doing my job and it's a lot of fun. You can tell them that."

Reza described an encounter he had with the sheriff during last Saturday's protest outside the furniture store.

``He came and told me, `Do you know who I am? I used to be the head of the DEA for four years, and I used to talk to the president in Mexico,'" Reza said. ``And I said, `Well, that's nice, okay,' and then he said `Do you even know where Mexico is?' And I had to tell him, yes, I was born in Mexico.'"

Reza said he will ask the County Board of Supervisors Wednesday why so many taxpayer dollars are being spent for the sheriff to show up at the Saturday protests, planned for every weekend until Christmas.



http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=633534

I'm curious about the intent of the protest and how they can be positioned in front of the store without impeding foot or vehicle traffic while staying on public property. Don't they also have to have a permit to gather and protest? Wouldn't public complaints put an end to the issue of permits?

If just one of the protesters could be filmed or recorded stating that their intent is to deprive the owners of business couldn't the protesters (and more particularly the organizers) be sued?

What is the basis of their complaint? If their complaint is that the owner of the store wanted his property cleared of unlawful trespassers and the police obliged, isn't the complaint without merit and therefore subject to legal remedy? I think Sheriff Joe is just giving out rope to let them hang themselves with. Wanna bet on whether or not these militants and social leeches manage to picket even til Thanksgiving?

Mayor absent in day-labor feud
Nov. 7, 2007 12:00 AM

Mike Sensing sits in the office at the back of his family's furniture store and he wonders: Where's the mayor?

For the second year in a row, day-labor activists are targeting his store in the crucial weeks leading up to Christmas, branding him and his father as racists and vigilantes.

"This isn't about illegal immigration," Mike Sensing says. "We're trying to sell sofas." advertisement

Trying, being the operative word here.

M.D. Pruitt's has the feel of a bunker these days, as Sensing has lined the front of his parking lot with delivery trucks to shield his customers from the protesters who are gathering every Saturday in an effort to close him down.

The problem began two years ago, when day laborers were chased from a nearby Home Depot, prompting them to gather along Thomas Road between 32nd and 40th streets in Phoenix. Their presence disrupted businesses whose owners rightly turned to City Hall in search of a solution.

The city's suggestion: hire off-duty cops to keep laborers and those who hire them from violating city ordinances. So Sensing and 25 other business owners did just that, sparking last year's cries of vigilantism and protests.

At Sensing's request, the city stepped in to mediate late last year, leading to an agreement that ended the off-duty patrols and the protests.

Sensing says the patrols cut down on trash, public urination and customer intimidation but problems escalated once they were gone. He returned to City Hall, only to be told that off-duty cops can no longer work for Pruitt's. So he sought out Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who a few weeks ago began making traffic stops and arresting people. This angered the day-laborers' spokesman, Salvador Reza, who has called for protests at Pruitt's every Saturday until Christmas.

Both sides accuse the other of breaking their promises. Sensing says Reza agreed to establish a day-labor center but never did. Reza didn't return calls for comment. He has said that Sensing reneged on his promise to drop the patrols.

Notably absent: the leader of this city. Mayor Phil Gordon is currently reprising the role of Sgt. Schultz in Hogan's Heroes. ("I know NOTHING!")

"I didn't have the meeting, I wasn't part of that," Gordon told me. "They worked through their process. They (the Sensings) even issued a press release thanking me for their meeting, and on their own they decided to do what they did, and I wasn't part of it so I can't even tell you what the agreement or no agreements were."

Bill Scheel, Gordon's senior deputy chief of staff who attended last year's meeting, says the deal required only that Reza attempt to establish a work center, something he has been unable to do.

Gordon, meanwhile, bristles at the suggestion that he should show some actual leadership and step into the fray, pointing out that the law bars cities from funding or running work centers.

"We have stepped up enforcement over the year with dedicated officers on the streets," he said. "That is what Phoenix has been doing, arresting anyone that committed any crimes. With respect to the decision by the operators of Pruitt's and by the day-laborer representatives, that's been their decision as to what to do. We are going after the criminals."

While Gordon is going after criminals, Sensing wonders who is looking out for businesses. And why city leaders - who suggested the off-duty patrols in the first place - won't get involved.

"We've been here for a long time," he says. "We pay our taxes. We employ quite a few people."

For now, that is. Sales were down 40 percent Saturday, he says, and with the arrest of an ACLU official, things are likely to heat up even more. If it keeps up, layoffs will be inevitable.

Among his 115 employees, more than half are Hispanic.

www.azcentral.com

Mayor Phil Gordon needs some email

mayor.gordon@phoenix.gov

Agreed and done!

Mayor Gordon,

While I recognize that the issues you are facing in Phoenix are slightly different from our concerns in Alamance County Nortn Carolina, illegal aliens are just that; illegal. To allow them to stand on your city streets and demand anything is a travesty in and of itself, but to permit them to damage the livelihood and reputation of long-time taxpaying citizens and businesses as an elected official is reprehensible.

What they are doing to the Sensing family is clearly an act of malicious intent and should be dealt with. I assume you have the ability to regulate the size of public gatherings, the area in which they are allowed to congregate, etc. If you have no regulations in place in that regard you certainly have the power to create them. Let the mob protest on the outskirts of the city, or better yet on the steps of City Hall where they have minimal effect on the individual members of your community.

Is it your intent to bow to the invading hordes and make your city a scofflaw republic? Will you continue to have unlawful residents dictate policy or will you support the citizens of your community and protect their rights?

Thank God for a Sheriff like the one you have there who stands for justice instead of political correctness. He appears to be the only line of defense your honest folk have in this fight. Perhaps you and your Chief of Police can learn by example? What are you waiting for? Afraid the mob will grow and riot in your streets? Better them than the taxpayers I'd say!

xxxx xxxxxxx
Graham, North Carolina
(home of a 287g police force and darned proud of it)

Originally Posted by tiredofapathy

Agreed and done!

Mayor Gordon,

While I recognize that the issues you are facing in Phoenix are slightly different from our concerns in Alamance County Nortn Carolina, illegal aliens are just that; illegal. To allow them to stand on your city streets and demand anything is a travesty in and of itself, but to permit them to damage the livelihood and reputation of long-time taxpaying citizens and businesses as an elected official is reprehensible.

What they are doing to the Sensing family is clearly an act of malicious intent and should be dealt with. I assume you have the ability to regulate the size of public gatherings, the area in which they are allowed to congregate, etc. If you have no regulations in place in that regard you certainly have the power to create them. Let the mob protest on the outskirts of the city, or better yet on the steps of City Hall where they have minimal effect on the individual members of your community.

Is it your intent to bow to the invading hordes and make your city a scofflaw republic? Will you continue to have unlawful residents dictate policy or will you support the citizens of your community and protect their rights?

Thank God for a Sheriff like the one you have there who stands for justice instead of political correctness. He appears to be the only line of defense your honest folk have in this fight. Perhaps you and your Chief of Police can learn by example? What are you waiting for? Afraid the mob will grow and riot in your streets? Better them than the taxpayers I'd say!

xxxx xxxxxxx
Graham, North Carolina
(home of a 287g police force and darned proud of it)

Outstanding letter

Thanks jimpasz! I hope others here will follow suit! I am tired of watching this go on across the country unopposed and so long as folks sit frustrated and silent it is going to continue until there is little of our way of life left to save.

I also wrote to the reporter writing on this story at the Arizona Republic, Laurie Roberts. I hope she publishes my letter.

Laurie,

Thanks for the great story. It inspired me to write to your Mayor on this issue. (copied below)

The story of the Sensing family is known nationwide and Phoenix is coming under the microscope of anti-illegal immigration groups and their supporters across the country. I have taken the liberty of expressing my personal concerns over this issue to your Mayor this morning via email and I thought I'd share them with you as well.

I think it's time the citizens of Phoenix stood up and said enough is enough. Today it is the Sensing family that is bearing the brunt of this senseless assault on freedom and the rule of law. Tomorrow it will be another member of your community, and the problem will continue to fester and grow until it spins out of control. At what point will your elected officials decide to actually tackle the issue of illegal immigration and the systemic problems associated with it; perhaps at the point of no return? Shame on the Mayor, and shame on the rest of the lawful business community for allowing this travesty to continue!

xxx xxxxx
Graham, North Carolina
(home of a 287g police force and darned proud of it)

tiredofapathy

There can be no victory without action, you are a true patriot.

Thank You

Pro-laborer protest continues outside Pruitt's store
Lynh Bui
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 10, 2007 11:19 PM

Their numbers are getting larger, and their chants are getting louder.

For the third weekend in a row, demonstrators rallied Saturday outside an east Phoenix furniture store to boycott the business and protest the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office's arrests of day laborers in the area.

Saturday brought out the largest crowd of protesters in recent weeks, with about 120 demonstrators lining the sidewalk along Thomas Road near 34th Street.


Holding signs with messages like "We are not criminals" and "Arpaio, stop blowing the budget," protesters outside of M.D. Pruitt's furniture store said they are supporting the rights of undocumented immigrants to find work. But Pruitt's owner Roger Sensing and others in the area recently asked the Sheriff's Office for help removing day laborers from the area, saying their presence hampers business.

Despite a significantly larger crowd compared to previous weekends, the protest was more peaceful compared to last week, when Daniel Pochoda, an official of the American Civil Liberties Union, was arrested on charges of trespassing.

As in weeks past, Sensing hired off-duty Sheriff's deputies for security during the protests. He would not say how much he is spending on the off-duty deputies.

Cars driving by on Thomas Road honked their horns supporting protesters, but one driver who apparently didn't appreciate the protestors' views stuck his arm out the window and flipped off the crowd.

Gayla Franks stood nearby to document the protest with a camcorder. Franks said she knows Sensing personally and has been shopping at Pruitt's for the last 20 years.

She used to live in the area but moved because she didn't like the "questionable, unknown characters" standing around the neighborhood.

"I think it's a travesty of justice (that) the people who are not contributing to the improvement of this society can stand . . . in front of a business and intimidate and coerce a business owner because they're mad at the sheriff," Franks said.

Phoenix resident Chris Fleischman said undocumented immigrants are being used as scapegoats for society's problems. He attended the protest to "look out for the weakest among us."

"They came here not because it was fun to risk their life and come across the desert," Fleischman said. "They came here because they had no choice."

Sheriff Joe Arpaiosaid he would continue to support his deputies and enforcing immigration laws. Arpaio said he attended the demonstration to support his deputies.

"They are criminals," Arpaio said of undocumented immigrants and day laborers. When "they cross this border, they are here illegally."

Half way through the demonstration, protesters released seven doves to symbolize the migration of workers to Arizona.

"Human beings have the freedom to move all over the place," said Salvador Reza, protest organizer and a local immigrant rights activist.

Reza said the group plans to protest outside of Pruitt's every Saturday until Christmas.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... 1111.html#