Immigrant Rights Group: We Demand A Solution Not More Persecution
Los Angeles – The dust had not yet settled in the state of Arizona with the passage of a draconian piece of legislation targeting immigrants who are in the country without authorization, when another wave of fear was unleashed against immigrant communities. Hundreds of ICE agents in cooperation with local sheriff officers descended today upon communities across Arizona terrorizing families and further destabilizing local businesses. The following are statements by Angelica Salas, Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), a regional human and immigrant rights not-for-profit community-based organization based in Los Angeles.
“Today, ICE director Morton followed in the steps of renegade Sheriff Arpaio by sending in hundreds of agents along with local police officers to apprehend a few dozen individuals working to benefit Arizona’s economy. The signals being sent by ICE do not rhyme with Secretary Napolitano’s statements made just the night before on MSNBC, when she decried the Arizona law and said that immigration should remain primarily a federal issue. Moreover, they do not echo the President’s commitment to immigrant communities that real change was on the way.
Arizona is setting a dangerous precedent by systematically enforcing broken immigration laws through rogue police agents who receive little or no oversight. Arizona deserves a police and a sheriff department that protects and serves its residents on public safety concerns not immigration enforcement. The worst violators of the peace in the Grand Canyon State are not immigrants who are in the country illegally and who work to benefit the state’s economy, but renegades like Sheriff Arpaio who shield themselves behind a police badge and openly mock justice in pursuit of vindictive agendas. Based on today’s actions by ICE, we also question whether the right hand at DHS knows what the left hand is doing on the ground.
We condemn the continuation of ICE raids large or small because they rip apart entire communities and disrupt local business without offering long-term solutions. We ask Arizona’s governor to reject SB1070 on the grounds that it is an unnecessarily punitive and likely unconstitutional law. We call on the White House and Senators Schumer and Graham to speed the process in Congress so that a fair and humane immigration reform bill can be debated and approved. The madness must stop.”
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The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) was formed in 1986 to advance the human and civil rights of immigrants and refugees in Los Angeles, promote harmonious multi-ethnic and multi-racial human relations and through coalition-building, advocacy, community education and organizing, empower immigrants and their allies to build a more just society.
Contact: Jorge-Mario Cabrera (jmcabrera@chirla.org)
(562) 243-5559 (mobile) or (213) 353-1789 direct
