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Protesters gathered in front of City Hall Thursday demanding Mayor Greg Stanton turn his words supporting illegal immigrants into action.
Stanton released a statement Wednesday in response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration, reaffirming his statement made after the general election that the Phoenix Police Department will not become a mass deportation force.
Despite the statement, Leidy Robledo, a youth organizer for Puente Human Rights Movement said the police force was a major concern for the immigrant community.
“With Trump’s new announcement, police are no longer our friends,” Robledo said. “So, it’s problematic because right now the solution for school safety, for community safety, is police; and right now police presence in our community is an immediate danger to our community.”
Puente Human Rights Movement hosted the protest along with People United for Justice, Living United for Change in Arizona and Mi Familia Vota Arizona.
My statement re: the President’s executive orders on a border wall & immigration enforcement: pic.twitter.com/SxloPEmpwz
— Greg Stanton (@MayorStanton) January 25, 2017
Puente Director Carlos Garcia said he was happy Stanton made a statement, but he still wanted further action from the mayor. He was also worried about police policies.
“I felt it was hypocritical for him to put that out there,” Garcia said. “We’ve had meetings with him; and he knows that the current policy of 4.48, which is the Phoenix Police Department (policy of) how they relate to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is one of the worst policies in the country. It literally spells out how to racially profile.”
RELATED: All eyes on downtown Phoenix as Trump announces immigration plan
Operatins Order 4.48 says the Phoenix Police Department will conduct immigration enforcement activities in compliance with state and federal laws and gives guidance on how to do so.
Moving forward, Garcia said he wants Stanton to make Phoenix a sanctuary city. For this to happen, the Phoenix Police Department would have to stop cooperating with federal immigration authorities, which would mean reversing Operations Order 4.48.
“To become a sanctuary city is to completely rupture cooperation between police and immigration,” Garcia said. “As it stands, anyone, including victims and witnesses, could be transferred over to immigration; and so that’s definitely not what a sanctuary city is.”
Garcia said they are also asking the City of Phoenix not to release any information gathered in the process of issuing city IDs to undocumented immigrants to the federal government.
Robledo and Garcia both said they plan to first focus on protecting their community in the coming weeks and months.
“So for us, it’s first protecting our families, making sure we organize our community, that they know their rights and come to institutions like the City of Phoenix, schools, churches, anywhere we can and make sure they put out a policy of what side they’re on,” Garcia said. “They’re either with us or they’re with President Trump.”
Protester Anabel Maldoando said she is also determined to continue activism work for this cause.
“I definitely will continue in whatever role I can help in,” Maldoando said. “Whether it’s protest or calling our elected officials.”
Robledo said this was just the beginning of the fight for her and the other organizers.
“Trump has only been president for a couple of days,” Robledo said. “We know the threat. We know what we’re facing up, but we also know that we are strong and that we’re going to resist.”
Contact the reporter at Stephanie.M.Morse@asu.edu.
