(Phoenix, Arizona) –– Another immigration march aimed to protest Maricopa sheriff’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants summoned Saturday thousands of people in Arizona.
The demonstration was also intended to pressure President Obama’s Administration to stop immigration enforcement policies and to pass an immigration reform this year.
Thousands of immigrant workers and their families marched a three-mile long route from Falcon Park to the Maricopa County jail complex, in South Phoenix.
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Except for a brief incident between Phoenix Police Department and a group of young demonstrators with a more radical approach, the march was orderly and even festive.
The massive demonstration brought to Arizona long-time Chicana activist Dolores Huerta,
legendary singers Linda Ronstadt, Little Joe, and rapper-activist Zack de la Rocha, who led the immigration march along other local leaders.
Thousands of men, women and children walked enthusiastically and tirelessly in hopes that their participation somehow will persuade Washington to pass legislation to allow them to obtain legal status.
“We are marching for the rights of the [immigrant] community,” said Veronica Cortés, a young mother who was among the demonstrators who included her husband and children. “Bringing along our children is a way of raising awareness in them about our people’s struggle; even though they had the privilege of having been born here, they don’t
know what their parents went through to arrive to this land.”
The Human Rights March was the first of 2010 and the second one in less than a year to
target the jail complex in Southwest Phoenix. Last year, several marches and protests took place but failed to thwart the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) from continuing its roundups and arrests undocumented immigrants during saturations patrols.
Unlike the previous demonstration, there were no groups or individuals to counter-protest. A few sheriff deputies were spotted observing the crowd passing by, some taking photographs from a building’s rooftop, as an MCSO helicopter flew over the complex’s area persistently.
Sheriff Arpaio was not seen anywhere around when the demonstrators arrived at the jail complex but gave a press conference earlier.
The Phoenix Police Department provided the security for the immigration march, but also had a strong presence of officers wearing anti-riot gear. Since the march was almost entirely non-violent and well-behaved, the cops limited to observe the thousands of people walking and chanting.
However, this police force went into action when a group of young people holding black flags, dressed in black and with their faces semi-covered with bandanas, allegedly did something that appeared to threaten police officers on horses.
This group of men and women had attended most of the pro-immigrant demonstrations last year, where they had been vocal against law enforcement agencies and taunted police.
They first showed up at the marches when de la Rocha was invited last year to attend a February 28 protest. Since then, they have been a regular fixture.
Most recently, members of this group were seen at a protest against Sheriff Arpaio’s visit to Cronkite School of Journalism on November 30 of last year. This group’s approach appears to be directed toward police abuse and authorities, which explains their participation in anti-Arpaio protests, but they don’t seem to be in direct support or opposition of the pro-immigration agenda.
De la Rocha’s songs lyrics in English usually attract, not immigrants or Spanish-speaking families, but counterculture and radical groups. Since he has been invited as a speaker by the organizers, the group’s participation cannot be detached from the march or dismissed as not being part of the demonstration, as they are likely attracted by de la Rocha, who’s
also becoming a regular fixture in protests in Maricopa County.
In September 2008, de la Rocha led a protest in Minnesota where police dispersed demonstrators with tear gas. According to reports, Police prevented the musician from performing, thus making his fans angry.
In regards to what happened in today’s march, different versions contradict police accounts, one indicating that officers pepper-sprayed in overreaction of what they perceived as an attack, whether this was real or not. Afterward, several young men lay on the sidewalk experiencing the effects of the spray on their faces. Five were reportedly arrested.
Except for verbal confrontations from this group to the anti-riot squad, the aftermath went on with no other altercations. The incident diverted much of the attention of the march for a while, and created an unwanted scene in an event where the majority of participants attended to protest Arpaio’s enforcement of immigration laws, as well as to send a message to the White House to pass an immigration reform.
Despite this incident, the immigrant families who showed up in great numbers were peaceful. Other than sporadic verbal and written profanities against the sheriff, the march was nonviolent and looked more like a parade or festival.
The characteristic anti-sheriff paraphernalia that has created a culture of protest against Arpaio with signs, t-shirts, popular artwork, masks resembling his likeness and other stuff was seen everywhere.
At the end of the march, many of the participants returned to the departing point by walking back the three-mile route. Others were able to hop in the back of pickup trucks, and some had still the energy to be chanting and yelling as the drivers who were giving them a ride were honking loudly.
Undocumented immigrant advocates in Arizona and the nation are faced with another year of struggle to continue pressing Obama to fulfill his campaign promise of signing legislation that would give legal residency to the estimated 12 million people who live, work and consume in the United States.
Accordingly, a great number of protestors were holding signs in Spanish asking: “Obama: Where is the Reform.”
Related video: Immigrant March in Phoenix, Arizona
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