Photos by Thomas Hawthorne
A man wearing a large Sheriff Joe Arpaio paper-mache head and a stuffed shirt and a woman donning a Gov. Jan Brewer head and another woman in a police hat performed a skit where they arrested an undocumented immigrant.
“Police” interrogated the woman demanding to know how long she had been in the country illegally. The undocumented woman refused to answer and only gave her name. After consulting with the fake Arpaio and Brewer, the police let the woman go. The crowd erupted into cheers.
In front of the Immigrant and Customs Enforcement office on Central Avenue, protesters watched the skit and heard first-hand accounts of interactions with ICE as they marched from Steele Indian School Park to County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s office Monday.
Puente Arizona, a grassroots organization that promotes migrant justice and human rights, organized the protest, Ni Una Deportacion Mas or Not One More Deportation.
Protestors asked President Barack Obama to halt deportation of undocumented people until immigration was reformed and asked Montgomery to drop charges against those arrested during raids, Puente Arizona Director Carlos Garcia said.
“Joe Arpaio does the raids, then Bill Montgomery charges people with a felony,” Garcia said. “A felony that . . . pretty much secures their deportation because it’s impossible to get your documents after you have such a high level felony.”
Montgomery said it would be equally wrong to both arrest and drop charges based on someone’s class, ethnicity or race.
“There are no policies in the office to dictate which offense to charge because of someone’s immigration status,” Montgomery said.
“I do think that trying to equate what my duties and responsibilities are as a local law enforcement official with the changes that they’re seeking from the federal government is a mistake,” he said.
Montgomery said protestors should petition the federal government for immigration reform.
The protest attracted roughly 100 people, many carrying signs and t-shirts with monarch butterflies that symbolize migration.
“Monarch butterflies migrate to and from Mexico and across the continent all the time. It’s our right to migrate. It’s a natural thing that happens,” Garcia said.
When the march arrived outside Montgomery’s office, another group of roughly ten people protested against Ni Una Deportacion Mas with signs saying, “Remember 1986. Ban amnesty now.”
At the top of stairs leading to the building, anti-amnesty protestors attempted to display their signs above the march’s banner. Marchers attempted to block these signs with their own.
Arizona State University alumnus Elizabeth Venable, 32, said she moved back to Arizona from California to help work on immigration reform.
“When I see offensive signs, I’d rather cover them up with a butterfly,” Venable said.
Vice President of the Arizona Immigration Reform Council Kathryn Kobor,70, said political organization Riders United for a Sovereign America informed the anti-amnesty protestors of the march.
“(I’m here for) the safety of all citizens of all colors in the United States. We are sick and tired of having people come over here that are not citizens,” Kobor said.
Kobor said in the past she had undocumented immigrant friends.
“But they came to work and get jobs and do what they’re supposed to do. Now it’s the drugs, the gangs and the cartels,” Kobor said.
Another group of fewer than five also awaited the protestors at Montgomery’s office. This group, however, supported the marcher’s cause.
A man from the group shouted through a megaphone for white supremacists to return to Europe. On several occasions he yelled back and forth with the anti-amnesty protestors.
“They have no empathy, no sympathy, they are not human,” said Eyicozcacuauhtli Ozomatli, a 35-year-old tattoo artist.
One protestor held a sign with three arrows. In the sign, the U.S. Constitution and SANE, a group focused on immigration reform, pointed in one direction and Montgomery pointed in the other.
“I feel like human rights are under attack like they’re saying in the chant and it’s not fair that people’s families are separated just so that people can afford to put food on their tables,” said Chris Fleischman, the 52-year-old protester holding the sign.
While passing a restaurant, the man who played Arpaio in the skit spotted police officers eating inside. He stopped to mockingly salute them.
“Immigration reform needs to happen but it’s got to be led by undocumented people,” said Michael Royer, 24-year-old community activist. “No one’s listening to them, everyone’s listening to politicians who are bought out by the corporations.”
Contact the reporter at ddworth1@asu.edu
