by Tim Gaynor
PHOENIX – Thousands of people protesting a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigrants by an Arizona sheriff marched through Phoenix on February 28, toting placards reading "We Are Human" and "Stop the Raids."
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has dispatched deputies into Hispanic communities in the 
Phoenix area where they stop people and arrest anyone who cannot prove he or she is a legal U.S. resident. Under a deal allowing them to enforce federal immigration laws, the deputies have arrested more than 1,500 people whom they determined were in Arizona illegally.
Phoenix area where they stop people and arrest anyone who cannot prove he or she is a legal U.S. resident. Under a deal allowing them to enforce federal immigration laws, the deputies have arrested more than 1,500 people whom they determined were in Arizona illegally.Latino activists and lawmakers call his program a clear case of racial profiling because only people who look Hispanic are targeted. Arpaio steadfastly denies the charge. Earlier this month, he stirred more controversy when he marched 220 illegal immigrants in shackles and striped prison garb through Phoenix under armed guard.
"Walking people through the streets in chains, public shaming, it’s medieval," said Veronica Perez, 32, an archeologist carrying signs reading "No Human Is Illegal" and "Stop the Raids." "Isn’t cruel and unusual punishment against the U.S. Constitution?" she asked.
The event was organized by activists from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and a group called El Puente Arizona. Estimates of the number of participants ranged from 1,000 to 3,000.
Preparing for the march at a park in central Phoenix, school district coordinator Sylvia Airington, 47, slammed Arpaio’s policies. "Racial profiling, targeting the Hispanic community — it’s an embarrassment to America," she said.
What to do about an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States is an explosive political issue. But it has largely dropped out of the debate as concerns turn to the economic crisis. A bid to push comprehensive immigration reform through Congress was rejected by Republican lawmakers two years ago. President Barack Obama, who supported the measure, has yet to address the matter.
"I voted for Obama for change," said welder Oscar Camacho, 45. "But with respect to immigration, I see no change at all." Around 100 counter-demonstrators waving American flags turned out to support Arpaio on Saturday. Some carried holstered pistols.
"He is the only one to uphold illegal immigration laws," said Dina Rose, 52, standing on sidewalk by the sheriff’s office in downtown Phoenix. "The county sheriff is America’s last hope of protecting our freedoms."
(Editing by Xavier Briand)
Published on Sunday, March 1, 2009 by Reuters
© 2009 Reuters
5,000 MARCH AGAINST SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO IN PHOENIX
From Arizona Indy Media
Phoenix, AZ- Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in downtown Phoenix on February 28 to protest Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and policies that critics argue violate basic human and civil rights. Organizers estimated the number of marchers at more than 5,000; soon after the march began, Phoenix police blocked traffic to Central Ave. and allowed demonstrators to fill the street, because of their overwhelming numbers (the march had lacked a permit).
Among the demands voiced by demonstrators was that the federal government end 287(g) agreements and stop the raids of workplaces and immigrant neighborhoods. The 287(g) agreements allow local law enforcement to arrest people if they are suspected of being in the U.S. without proper documents. Critics point to recent actions by Arpaio as evidence of these agreements’ vulnerability to abuse.
"Recently the nation witnessed the ritual humiliation of migrants in a spectacle evocative of some of the most horrific episodes of human history," stated Pablo Alvarado, Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Last month Arpaio intensified his on-going escalation of attacks against Latinos by segregating the county jail and parading hundreds of immigrants shackled in a chain-gang into "tent city", an urban internment camp surrounded by armed guards, razor wire and electric fencing.
in truth we are the illegal aliens of this country …. this land was not ours to begin with it was theirs and we came and stole and pilfered …we are treating mexicans and hispanics as if they were dogs that dont belong in the house….we should allow them to stay here and their families should be allowed to come and they should be affored all the opprotunities and rights we have.
Instead of focusing on the laws and law enforcement that our country currently has and putting that down, why don’t you focus on the illegal aliens themselves who are being held captive in the second worst city of the world for kidnappings, beaten, killed, etc. instead of Sheriff Joe?
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From a humanitarian perspective, our fellow human beings, who migrate to support their families, continue to suffer at the hands of immigration policies that separate them from family members and drive them into remote parts of the American desert, sometimes to their deaths. This suffering should not continue.
Now is the time to address this pressing humanitarian issue which affects so many lives and undermines basic human dignity. Our society should no longer tolerate a status quo that perpetuates a permanent underclass of persons and benefits from their labor without offering them legal protections.