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U.S.: Anti-Arpaio March
Reignites Pro-Immigrant Movement
By Valeria Fernández
PHOENIX, Arizona (IPS) - Over 20,000
people marched in the streets of Phoenix
Saturday in the first mass mobilization of
the year, calling for an end to the
criminalization of undocumented immigrants
and the passage of immigration reform
legislation.
Arizona is considered ground zero for the
immigration debate due to its severe
anti-immigrant policies and the
controversial figure of Maricopa County
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose deputies conduct
frequent immigration sweeps in Latino
neighbourhoods.
"We're not going to allow him to continue to
abuse us and treat us as if we were
criminals, when we're workers," said
Salvador Reza, an organizer for PUENTE, the
movement behind the march. "The message is
clear for the [Barack] Obama administration:
You need to put a stop to Sheriff Joe
Arpaio's circus."
The largest march to protest Arpaio's
criminalization of immigrants in the history
of Arizona came on the heels of a grand jury
criminal investigation led by the U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ) that is focusing
on abuse of power by his office.
Arpaio is also the subject of a probe by
another division of the DOJ on the use of
racial profiling during his immigration
sweeps.
The protest destination was a five-jail
complex administered by Arpaio, including an
outdoor jail known as "Tent City", where
hundreds of immigrants have been detained.
Celia Alejandra Alvarez, 29, attended the
march. She was among the women who had been
incarcerated in the jail following one of
the sheriff's raids of a landscaping
business last February.
"The pain you live in there is shameful,"
said Alvarez in a speech outside the jail in
front of thousands of people.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
filed a civil rights claim on behalf of
Alvarez. She alleged deputies broke her jaw
during her arrest and that she was denied
proper medical care during the time she was
detained.
Arpaio told IPS he wasn't concerned about
the grand jury investigation or the
protests.
"I started out doing my job on this illegal
immigration and I'm still doing it. The U.S.
government agreed - they gave me 160
officers. If you want to blame anybody, why
not blame Homeland Security that gave me all
of this authority," he said.
In February 2007, Arpaio signed a 287(g)
agreement with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) that allowed his deputies
to act as immigration agents and placed
retainers on undocumented migrants entering
his jail.
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet
Napolitano took away his street enforcement
powers under a new agreement signed three
months ago, but activists argue the program
should have been completely revoked.
"The wheels of government are moving too
slowly on this," said Reza. "They could come
and take control of the jails and the
sheriff's office until the grand jury is
resolved. If they don't do that, the sheriff
will continue to take advantage of people."
For the migrants who marched, the call for
Arpaio to be removed from office went hand
in hand with a call for immigration reform.
"It's enough of the raids. There's so many
murderers and thieves, why doesn't he focus
on catching them?" asked Rosa Delia Cruz,
55, whose son was arrested by a sheriff's
deputy after a traffic stop on his way back
from work, and then deported.
"My grandchildren are afraid of going to
school. They tell my daughter, 'Mom, if that
man [Arpaio] arrests you, where am I going
to go?'" she added.
Jennifer Allen, executive director of the
Border Action Network (BAN), a human rights
organization based in Tuscon, Arizona, said
national immigration reform is the solution
to put an end to Arpaio's anti-immigrant
crackdown.
"This march is important, not just for
Phoenix, but it's important for Arizona and
the country as a whole. Because Arizona has
been ground zero for anti-immigrant attacks
at local levels, through our state
legislature, to justify horrible policies
for the rest of the country," she said.
The march had national support, with
organizers and caravans coming from
California, Illinois and Washington, D.C. It
also drew the participation of celebrities
like the singer Linda Ronstadt, a native
Arizonan.
"Arpaio thinks law in general doesn't apply
to him. It's just pathetic. He's supposed to
enforce the law, not break it," said
Ronstadt, who walked the entire three-mile
march.
She said his actions are "criminalizing
people that normally wouldn't be interested
in a life of crime in any way, shape or
form."
"They're taking jobs that, by and large,
Americans won't take. Americans aren't that
interested in working 12-hour days under the
blazing sun, picking lettuce or
strawberries. So without Mexican labour, we
can't get food on the table," she added.
A disturbance towards the end of the march
ruined the peaceful protest for several
immigrant families.
The Phoenix Police Department said that
protesters started throwing bottles of water
at police officers and assaulted a
policewoman on a horse.
Witnesses said the officer threw pepper
spray at the crowd, hitting marchers who
weren't involved in the incident. Several
children were among them.
"They come with the horse on us and used
gas. My child couldn't breathe," said Rocío
Medina. Her daughter got cuts in her arm
after being pushed by people running away
from the pepper spray.
The police arrested four people on charges
of assault.
Organizers of the event said the
disturbances were caused by individuals not
associated with their movement.
"We don't want the actions of a very small
number of people to overshadow a day that
was about peace. We are asking for a full
investigation into the incident, both with
respect to the conduct of those who were
accused of disrupting the march and the
actions of the police," said Chris Newman,
an attorney for the National Day Laborer
Organizing Network.
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