Tucson, AZ – Regarding the August 25 pardon that President Trump gave to the ex-sheriff Joe Arpaio, Stteffanny Cott from the Tucson immigrant rights action group L.U.P.E. said, “The truth is Sheriff Joe Arpaio, America’s most racist sheriff, used the Sheriff Department of Maricopa County to racially profile Latino and Chicano communities and violently contributed to the criminalization of immigrants and the separation of working class families.”

Cott continues, “He was found guilty by a U.S district judge of disregarding a 2011 Arizona judge order to stop using Maricopa sheriff department for immigration enforcement. The pardon by president Trump is a direct offense and attack against the immigrants’ rights movement of Southern Arizona. This action, combined with the recent attacks against DACA, are clear signs of Trump's coercive anti-immigrant agenda to further criminalize, imprison and deport all undocumented immigrants.”

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is the executive action that President Obama implemented in 2012, which has temporarily shielded hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrant youth from deportation and allowed them to get temporary work permits and drivers licenses.

“Today more than ever, we must continue to fight for a just and humane immigration reform, that legalizes all undocumented immigrants, stops the militarization of the border, stops all repressive programs like SB1070, Operation Streamline, Secure Communities, and stops the expansion of guest worker programs,” concluded Cott.

#TucsonAZ #SheriffJoeArpaio

Phoenix, AZ – Over 500 activists and community members gathered here on the morning of July 29 to protest SB1070 on the day the law was going into effect. The law has lost some of its teeth due to pressure from the immigrant rights movement, which resulted in the long overdue federal injunction. On July 28, a judge struck down the part of the law that required all Arizonans to carry their proof of legal status constantly, as well as the part that legalized and mandated racial profiling, declaring these parts unconstitutional. However, most of the law remains intact, including the parts that criminalize day laborers and target families with mixed immigration status.

Chis Newman, an immigrant rights lawyer, rallied the activists July 28, in a meeting just before the protest saying, “This struggle did not begin with SB1070 and it will not end with it. SB1070 is a manifestation of the racist cancer that is affecting our Latino communities.” This means that the struggle for Chicanos and immigrants in this country is far from over.

Protesters rallied in front of the office of Sheriff Arpaio, one of the main figureheads of the racist, anti-immigrant movement. Not only does Arpaio wrench thousands of families apart with his excessive raids and deportations, he also commits human rights violations with his humiliating treatment of undocumented prisoners. An estimated 20 activists were arrested in the street, including members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), heroic local community organizers from Puente Arizona and others, as supporters chanted, “Arrest Arpaio” and “Down with 1070! We will not comply!”

Later, protesters blockaded the county jail, forcing sheriff department deputies to remain inside for over an hour. As a result of this blockade, Sheriff Arpaio was forced to cancel his raids and deportations for today. The July 29 demonstrations were a victory for the oppressed peoples of Phoenix and the rallies will continue across Arizona and the nation.

Grace Kelley is a member of University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

#PhoenixAZ #SheriffJoeArpaio #civilDisobedience #Arizona #SB1070

Los Angeles, CA – Dozens of protesters gathered outside the CBS studios in west Los Angeles, July 24, to protest Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who was on set for an episode of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. A picket line marched at the studio’s entrances, accompanied by musicians. Demonstrators denounced Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona, for her support of the racist, anti-immigrant Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona.  The National Day Laborer Organizing Network organized the demonstration.

Sheriff Arpaio has been linked to many human rights abuses. He forces the immigrants he detains to work on chain gangs, live in sub-human conditions and wear pink undergarments in order to humiliate them [according to a recent article in the New Yorker magazine, Arpaio forced inmates to march in pink handcuffs, dressed only in their underwear, through town]. Arpaio is currently under investigation by the Department of Justice.

Protesters called on Maher to ask Napolitano about her connections with Sheriff Arpaio and her support of the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement officers (including Arpaio) to act as ICE agents and enforce immigration laws. This program all but guarantees racial profiling of Latinos and other nationalities; it allows police officers to stop people who seem ‘suspicious’ (i.e. non-white) and ask for ‘their papers.’

“We all hear Obama talking about the inclusion of immigrants,” said one of the protest organizers, “but at the same time that he makes these beautiful speeches, he has a secretary who is doing everything contrary to this message.”

#LosAngelesCA #InJusticeSystem #News #ChicanoLatino #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #JanetNapolitano #HomelandSecurity #SheriffJoeArpaio #NationalDayLaborerOrganizingNetwork