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Fifty Out-of-state Organizers to Document
MCSO's Abuses in Maricopa County
MCSO's Abuses in Maricopa County
By Eduardo Barraza
BARRIOZONA
September 15, 2008
Phoenix, Arizona. Puente, the local human rights group leading the current protests to attempt evicting the MCSO from the
downtown Phoenix Wells Fargo building announced the arrival this week of 50 organizers from across the nation to
document alleged abuses from the sheriff office.
Coordinated by the National Day Labor Organizing Network (NDLON,) the group of organizers will participate in a door-to-
door survey to gather information in the neighborhoods where the MCSO has conducted operations posed as “crime
suppression.” In reality, the sheriff department’s actions have been immigration sweeps conducted in areas of a
predominantly Latino/Hispanic population. The highly controversial raids have lead to numerous accusations of human
and civil right violations, some of which have already prompted law suits against the sheriff.
Puente informed that evidence collected by the out-of-sate organizers will be made available to the Justice Department
and Congress, as well as presented to both presidential candidates in order to create awareness of the consequences
the 287(g) agreements between ICE and local police entities are having.
According to a press release sent by members of Puente today, organizers will be talking to local residents to obtain
testimonies and document human rights violations—such as racial profiling— as well as recording it with audiovisual
equipment. After what is being announced as a public forum, organizers will then proceed by taking the data gathered
back to their home states.
The action is part of the national movement prompted by the daily two-hour demonstrations that began on September 2 in
front of the Wells Fargo corporate building in downtown Phoenix. A similar protest took place in Chicago, Illinois, where
members of the Immigration Defense Committee (IDC) distributed water bottles with a flyer attached, asking Wells Fargo
to end MCSO’s lease in the Phoenix building. IDC groups more than 20 grassroots organizations in the Chicago area.
“We hope to obtain testimonies from individuals who have been affected and abused by the sheriff. We will then begin a
campaign in Washington D.C. to force politicians there to look at what Arpaio is doing here in Arizona,” informed Salvador
Reza, coordinator of the Macehualli Day Labor Center in North Phoenix, where the public forum will take place this Friday,
September 19.
Reza told BARRIOZONA in a phone interview that after two weeks of daily protests they have not received coverage from
the local media. “Even though we have had about 30 to 50 people every day, it seems that the local media is protecting
the interests of Wells Fargo bank. With the exception of the Spanish and alternative media, the English-language media
hasn’t covered the demonstrations. In spite of this, and in terms of our strategy, the sit-ins have been very effective.”
This Thursday, September 18, several Bay Area community organizations in San Francisco, California, will picket at the
national Wells Fargo Corporate Headquarters, to demand that the financial institution stop housing and profiting from the
Maricopa County sheriff's terrorizing of migrant communities, in an act of solidarity with Arizona demonstrators.
Copyright © 2008 Hispanic Institute of Social Issues
BARRIOZONA
September 15, 2008
Phoenix, Arizona. Puente, the local human rights group leading the current protests to attempt evicting the MCSO from the
downtown Phoenix Wells Fargo building announced the arrival this week of 50 organizers from across the nation to
document alleged abuses from the sheriff office.
Coordinated by the National Day Labor Organizing Network (NDLON,) the group of organizers will participate in a door-to-
door survey to gather information in the neighborhoods where the MCSO has conducted operations posed as “crime
suppression.” In reality, the sheriff department’s actions have been immigration sweeps conducted in areas of a
predominantly Latino/Hispanic population. The highly controversial raids have lead to numerous accusations of human
and civil right violations, some of which have already prompted law suits against the sheriff.
Puente informed that evidence collected by the out-of-sate organizers will be made available to the Justice Department
and Congress, as well as presented to both presidential candidates in order to create awareness of the consequences
the 287(g) agreements between ICE and local police entities are having.
According to a press release sent by members of Puente today, organizers will be talking to local residents to obtain
testimonies and document human rights violations—such as racial profiling— as well as recording it with audiovisual
equipment. After what is being announced as a public forum, organizers will then proceed by taking the data gathered
back to their home states.
The action is part of the national movement prompted by the daily two-hour demonstrations that began on September 2 in
front of the Wells Fargo corporate building in downtown Phoenix. A similar protest took place in Chicago, Illinois, where
members of the Immigration Defense Committee (IDC) distributed water bottles with a flyer attached, asking Wells Fargo
to end MCSO’s lease in the Phoenix building. IDC groups more than 20 grassroots organizations in the Chicago area.
“We hope to obtain testimonies from individuals who have been affected and abused by the sheriff. We will then begin a
campaign in Washington D.C. to force politicians there to look at what Arpaio is doing here in Arizona,” informed Salvador
Reza, coordinator of the Macehualli Day Labor Center in North Phoenix, where the public forum will take place this Friday,
September 19.
Reza told BARRIOZONA in a phone interview that after two weeks of daily protests they have not received coverage from
the local media. “Even though we have had about 30 to 50 people every day, it seems that the local media is protecting
the interests of Wells Fargo bank. With the exception of the Spanish and alternative media, the English-language media
hasn’t covered the demonstrations. In spite of this, and in terms of our strategy, the sit-ins have been very effective.”
This Thursday, September 18, several Bay Area community organizations in San Francisco, California, will picket at the
national Wells Fargo Corporate Headquarters, to demand that the financial institution stop housing and profiting from the
Maricopa County sheriff's terrorizing of migrant communities, in an act of solidarity with Arizona demonstrators.
Copyright © 2008 Hispanic Institute of Social Issues
| Grassroots Journalism www.barriozona.com |
Individuals from across the nation began arriving in Phoenix to gather testimonies from alleged victims of
the sheriff's office. Data will be delivered to Washington D.C.
the sheriff's office. Data will be delivered to Washington D.C.
