400 protest at rally; voices of support at McCain forum [pass the popcorn]

Immigration continued to dominate the political conversation Saturday at a rally with U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, in a town hall with U.S. Sen. John McCain - and in a Twitter posting from President Obama.

As many as 400 people - some carrying signs with slogans like "Deport the Arizona Legislature. They are the Real Danger to Our Community," and "This is what happens when we don't vote" - showed up at Grijalva's campaign headquarters on South Stone Avenue to protest Arizona's new immigration law, which authorizes police during any lawful contact to determine a person's legal status if reasonable suspicion exists.

Just as Republicans hope health-care reform will galvanize their voters for the November elections, opponents of the immigration law hope it will serve as a catalyst for their voters. Every speaker at the Grijalva rally implored the crowd to get organized and vote. And several applauded Grijalva's call for conventions to boycott Arizona.

The crowd cheered students who took to the streets for demonstrations. And they cheered when they heard the American Immigration Lawyers Association canceled its fall convention in Scottsdale, issuing a statement saying, "We cannot in good conscience spend association dollars in a state that dehumanizes the people we represent and fight for."

Richard Elías, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, echoed statements by a litany of speakers that the law will infringe on civil rights. "Yesterday, people of color lost their right to due process here in Arizona," he said, while City Council member Regina Romero called Friday "one of the darkest days in Arizona."

Brewer's signature came even as former Arizona governor and now Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in interviews Friday "the border itself is more under control than it has ever been."

And the president, who has already said he will look into the civil rights implication of the law, sent out a "tweet" early Saturday afternoon saying the law "threatens to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans."

That's what worries 23-year-old Iliana Vargas, a research technician at the Grijalva rally. "It's racial profiling. There's no other way to look at it. I just see Arizona going backward."

And 21-year-old university student Jaimie Jackson said she wasn't mollified by Brewer's assurance of more officer training or of the law's language that legal status can be questioned only during a "lawful contact." "They can stop you for anything," she said, saying it's inconvenient for people to have to carry important registration documents at all times, even for quick trips to the mall or the grocery store.

Grijalva, a Democrat, said the economic boycott will be trivial compared with the money Arizona will lose in tourism and retail sales. And he called on Congress to "show the spine and the humanity to reform immigration laws," warning that otherwise, the new law will be a harbinger of things to come in other states.

He also continued his call for the U.S. government to refuse to cooperate. Since federal law has supremacy, he said, if the federal government refuses to detain or process the cases, then the new law is moot. He called for a "cleansing" at the state Legislature, which he said for too long has been tolerated as "silly extremists."

"Well, they're silly, but they're dangerous," he said, urging the crowd to continue nonviolent opposition.

Across town, about 80 people came to a McCain town hall where immigration also dominated the discussion.

Although McCain had sounded a note of support for the bill, calling it a "good tool" for law enforcement, he stopped short of fully endorsing the measure. "I haven't had a chance to look at all the aspects, but I do understand why the Legislature would act," he said. Even though it wasn't clear to him "whether all of it is legal or not," he said state lawmakers "acted out of frustration because the federal government didn't do its job."

He spoke of his 10-point plan to do that, including boosting border troops, paying them more, finishing the fence, improving communications equipment and giving more resources to local law enforcement.

Several in the crowd said they support the new law and expressed frustration about the lack of border enforcement.

Bob Foy, a 68-year-old retired lieutenant in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, said holes in border enforcement are allowing the free flow of narcotics and weapons into the country. "We're in such imminent danger that we don't have another 100 years to get this straight," he said. The new law, while "not the perfect answer, is an answer," he said.

One woman said she lives near the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, which is being "trashed" by border crossers. Another said her daughter's boyfriend is an illegal immigrant who has been in prison three times and keeps coming back.

One man chimed in that he was concerned about the mood, saying he was getting a vibe of animosity toward Mexican people in general.

McCain responded, "I am worried about anti-Hispanic feeling in this country, and I am concerned about condemning good, honest citizens of Hispanic origin because of this (immigration) problem." He noted Tucson was a Spanish-speaking city before it was English and he cherished the Latino heritage.

But pointing to the murder of rancher Robert Krentz, he said border problems need to be addressed not only for citizens here but for immigrants, who aren't protected under American laws and are preyed upon by criminal elements.

Pressed by one woman to call Grijalva's boycott irresponsible, McCain said he strongly disagrees with it, especially since the economy is hurting.

McCain, a Republican who has previously backed efforts to strengthen border security while creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, has been speaking almost exclusively about border security this election season. The primary race pits him against former U.S. Congressman J.D. Hayworth, who is painting himself as the more conservative option.

McCain's border stance sits just fine with 60-year-old Patricia Patterson, a concierge. "I was on the fence about a few things, and then I saw him shift away from amnesty, and that brought me back to his side," she said.

Meanwhile, 29-year-old film student Omar Martinez said he's leaning toward McCain also. "I was crushed by the new law," he said. While he's fearful that people of Mexican descent like himself will be made scapegoats, particularly given deep economic frustrations, he said he was pleased with McCain's comments respecting his culture.

Key elements of the law

• Bars governments and agencies from limiting or restricting their employees from enforcing immigration laws "to less than the full extent permitted by federal law."

• Requires police, where there is "reasonable suspicion" the person is an illegal immigrant, to make a "reasonable attempt ... when practicable" to determine that person's legal status.

• Contains an exception if pursuing that inquiry "may hinder or obstruct an investigation."

• Prohibits race, color or national origin from being the sole factor used in determining whether to pursue investigating someone's immigration status.

• Says governments cannot prohibit their employees from sending, receiving or maintaining information about someone's immigration status to determine whether they are eligible for public benefits or services.

• Permits any legal resident to sue if a government agency adopts any policy or practice that restricts the ability of its workers to enforce immigration laws, with judges required to impose penalties of up to $5,000 a day.

• Makes it a violation of state law to be in this country illegally, linking it to the failure to have the requisite "alien registration document."

• Makes it illegal to stop on a road to hire day laborers, or enter a car stopped on a road to get temporary work.

• Criminalizes transporting, concealing, harboring or shielding an illegal immigrant from detection if the person knows or "recklessly disregards" that the other person is in this country illegally.

Required documents

These are the documents that would allow a police officer to presume someone is in this country legally:

• A valid Arizona driver's license

• A valid non-operating identification card

• A valid tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification

• Any other federal, state or local government-issued identification, but only if obtaining it requires the holder first prove legal presence.

This is what it’s all about, Republic.

Have you ever heard these?? Take a deep breath first. These aren’t ignorant thugs on the street, these are their ‘leaders’.

The Takeover of America
CD Produced by the California Coalition for Immigration Reform

http://www.ccir.net/AUDIO/TakeoverOfAmericaCD/Menu.html

[snips]

1) Armando Navarro, Prof. Ethnic Studies, UC Riverside at Latino Summit Response to Prop 187, UC Riverside, 1/1995
“These are the critical years for us as a Latino community. We’re in a state of transition. And that transformation is called ‘the browning of America’. Latinos are now becoming the majority. Because I know that time and history is on the side of the Chicano/Latino community. It is changing in the future and in the present the balance of power of this nation. It’s a game - it’s a game of power - who controls it. You (to MEChA students) are like the generals that command armies. We’re in a state of war. This Proposition 187 is a declaration of war against the Latino/Chicano community of this country. They know the demographics. They know that history and time is on our side. As one community, as one people, as one nation within a nation as the community that we are, the Chicano/Latino community of this nation. What this means is a transfer of power. It means control.”

2) Art Torres, former CA state senator, currently Chair of California Democrat Party at UC Riverside 1/1995
“Que viva la causa! It is an honor to be with the new leadership of the Americas, here meeting at UC Riverside. So with 187 on the ballot, what is it going to take for our people to vote - to see us walking into the gas ovens? It is electoral power that is going to make the determination of where we go as a community. And power is not given to you — you have to take it. Remember: 187 is the last gasp of white America in California. Understand that. And people say to me on the Senate floor when I was in the Senate, ‘Why do you fight so hard for affirmative action programs?’ And I tell my white colleagues, ‘because you’re going to need them.’”

3) Jose Angel Gutierrez, Prof. Univ. Texas at Arlington, founder La Raza Unida Party at UC Riverside 1/1995
“The border remains a military zone. We remain a hunted people. Now you think you have a destiny to fulfill in the land that historically has been ours for forty thousand years. And we’re a new Mestizo nation. And they want us to discuss civil rights. Civil rights. What law made by white men to oppress all of us of color, female and male. This is our homeland. We cannot - we will not- and we must not be made illegal in our own homeland. We are not immigrants that came from another country to another country. We are migrants, free to travel the length and breadth of the Americas because we belong here. We are millions. We just have to survive. We have an aging white America. They are not making babies. They are dying. It’s a matter of time. The explosion is in our population.”

5) Mario Obledo, founding member/former nat’l director of Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), former CA Sect’y Health/Welfare on Tom Leykis radio talk show
“We’re going to take over all the political institutions in California. In five years the Hispanics are going to be the majority population of this state.” Caller: “You also made the statement that California is going to become a Hispanic state and if anyone doesn’t like it they should leave - did you say that?” Obledo: “I did. They ought to go back to Europe.”

14) Augustin Cebada, Information Minister of Brown Berets, militant para-military soldiers of Aztlan shouting at U.S. citizens at an Independence Day rally in Los Angeles, 7/4/96
“Augustin Cebada, Brown Berets, we’re here today to show L.A., show the minority people here, the Anglo-Saxons, that we are here, the majority, we’re here to stay. We do the work in this city, we take care of the spoiled brat children, we clean their offices, we pick the food, we do the manufacturing in the factories of L.A., we are the majority here and we are not going to be pushed around. We’re here in Westwood, this is the fourth time we’ve been here in the last two months, to show white Anglo-Saxon Protestant L.A., the few of you who remain, that we are the majority, and we claim this land as ours, sit’s always been ours, and we’re still here, and none of the talk about deporting. If anyone’s going to be deported it’s going to be you! Go back to Simi Valley, you skunks! Go back to Woodland Hills! Go back to Boston! To back to the Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims! Get out! We are the future. You’re old and tired. Go on. We have beaten you, leave like beaten rats. You old white people, it is your duty to die. Even their own ethicists say that they should die, that they have a duty to die. They’re taking up too much space, too much air. We are the majority in L.A. There’s over seven million Mexicans in L.A. County alone. We are the majority. And you’re going to see every day more and more of it, as we manifest as our young people grow up, graduate from high school, go on to college and start taking over this society. The vast majority of our people are under the age of 15 years old. Right now we’re already controlling those elections, whether it’s by violence or nonviolence. Through love of having children we’re going to take over.” Other demonstrators: “Raza fuerza (brown race power), this is Aztlan, this is Mexico. They’re the pilgrims on our land. Go back to the Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria.”

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