Sheriff's Tactics Opponents Bring
Heat to MCSO's Offices
Heat to MCSO's Offices
| Local, out-of-state organizers bring immigration debate to Downtown Phoenix, target Sheriff's leased space in Wells Fargo tower. |
Phoenix, Arizona. September 2, 2008 ─ Sheriff Arpaio’s opponents
have been protesting his abuse of power and zero-accountability
tactics in Maricopa County for years and months, but most recent
actions against him have gotten as close as they can get, with
demonstrators standing outside the building where his office is
located.
About fifty picketers gathered outside the Wells Fargo building in
Downtown Phoenix to begin a two-month series of daily, two-hour
sit-ins, where local community organizers were joined by members
of the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network
(NDLON), and the El Paso-based Association of Border Workers.
The quest of this new series of protests directed to challenge
Arpaio’s violation of human rights is to pressure Wells Fargo Bank
─the Corporation leasing the office space to Maricopa County─ to
not renew a lease agreement expiring on September 30th of this
year. MCSO has been occupying the 19th and 20th floors of the
building for the last decade.
have been protesting his abuse of power and zero-accountability
tactics in Maricopa County for years and months, but most recent
actions against him have gotten as close as they can get, with
demonstrators standing outside the building where his office is
located.
About fifty picketers gathered outside the Wells Fargo building in
Downtown Phoenix to begin a two-month series of daily, two-hour
sit-ins, where local community organizers were joined by members
of the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network
(NDLON), and the El Paso-based Association of Border Workers.
The quest of this new series of protests directed to challenge
Arpaio’s violation of human rights is to pressure Wells Fargo Bank
─the Corporation leasing the office space to Maricopa County─ to
not renew a lease agreement expiring on September 30th of this
year. MCSO has been occupying the 19th and 20th floors of the
building for the last decade.
| Text and photographs by Eduardo Barraza Yolie Hernandez contributed to this article VIEW PHOTO GALLERY |
| MESSAGE: Margarito Blancas, from Puente, was among the demonstrators who showed up for the first day of protests outside the Wells Fargo building. |
Similar protests took place in Phoenix last fall, when a furniture store hired off-duty sheriff deputies to allegedly keep
day laborers seeking work off their parking lot. Last year’s protests ─which also began with about the same number
of demonstrators showing up today─ spiraled up to hundreds of people attending, and confrontations between
protesters and counter-protesters that bordered in violence.
After two months of consistent protests every Saturday outside MD Pruitt's Home Furnishings, furniture store’s owners
ended their hiring of MCSO’s personnel as their private police. In retaliation, groups of counter-demonstrators moved
their own protests to the Macehualli Day Labor Center, in Northeast Phoenix, where Salvador Reza, main protest
organizer at Pruitt’s coordinates the center’s operations. After eight months of unsteadily-held protests outside the
Macehualli, the number of picketers has been reduced to 3 or 1, and attempts to shut down the work center have
been evidently unsuccessful.
The new series of protests bring the immigration debate that made national and international headlines to Downtown
Phoenix. The volatile demonstrations positioned Maricopa County ─and Arizona─ as the so-called epicenter of the
country’s polarizing issue on undocumented immigration. The battle on the streets escalated to sharp opposing views
and verbal confrontations between public officials, particularly between Sheriff Arpaio and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon,
who have become the opposite symbols of the immigration clash.
day laborers seeking work off their parking lot. Last year’s protests ─which also began with about the same number
of demonstrators showing up today─ spiraled up to hundreds of people attending, and confrontations between
protesters and counter-protesters that bordered in violence.
After two months of consistent protests every Saturday outside MD Pruitt's Home Furnishings, furniture store’s owners
ended their hiring of MCSO’s personnel as their private police. In retaliation, groups of counter-demonstrators moved
their own protests to the Macehualli Day Labor Center, in Northeast Phoenix, where Salvador Reza, main protest
organizer at Pruitt’s coordinates the center’s operations. After eight months of unsteadily-held protests outside the
Macehualli, the number of picketers has been reduced to 3 or 1, and attempts to shut down the work center have
been evidently unsuccessful.
The new series of protests bring the immigration debate that made national and international headlines to Downtown
Phoenix. The volatile demonstrations positioned Maricopa County ─and Arizona─ as the so-called epicenter of the
country’s polarizing issue on undocumented immigration. The battle on the streets escalated to sharp opposing views
and verbal confrontations between public officials, particularly between Sheriff Arpaio and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon,
who have become the opposite symbols of the immigration clash.
DRIVE BY: Buffalo Rick Galeener, a vocal anti-immigrant activist and
member of United for a Sovereign America (USA.) just drove by protesters,
yelling at Salvador Reza when he got a glimpse of him. Galeener is accused
of urinating in public outside of the day labor center.
member of United for a Sovereign America (USA.) just drove by protesters,
yelling at Salvador Reza when he got a glimpse of him. Galeener is accused
of urinating in public outside of the day labor center.
“It is widely known that the state of Arizona
has become the laboratory where new bills
and new policies are being implemented,”
stated Pablo Alvarado Executive Director of
the NDLON. “We believe that those policies
and practices must stay here and end here
in Arizona. We must ensure that these
practices are not exported to other places.”
Alvarado added that “when you have a
sheriff that’s engaging in this type of illicit
enforcement of the law, what happens is
that all of the sudden you create an
environment where a society views migrant
workers, and their rights, as something
completely different.”
Guillermo Glenn, Coordinator of the
Association of Border Workers, came from El
Paso especially to attend today’s first
protest. “We feel that Arizona and Sheriff
Joe are in the leadership of this anti-
immigrant, anti-Mexican racist kind of
promotion in the United States, and all over
has become the laboratory where new bills
and new policies are being implemented,”
stated Pablo Alvarado Executive Director of
the NDLON. “We believe that those policies
and practices must stay here and end here
in Arizona. We must ensure that these
practices are not exported to other places.”
Alvarado added that “when you have a
sheriff that’s engaging in this type of illicit
enforcement of the law, what happens is
that all of the sudden you create an
environment where a society views migrant
workers, and their rights, as something
completely different.”
Guillermo Glenn, Coordinator of the
Association of Border Workers, came from El
Paso especially to attend today’s first
protest. “We feel that Arizona and Sheriff
Joe are in the leadership of this anti-
immigrant, anti-Mexican racist kind of
promotion in the United States, and all over
the U.S.,” he declared. “We have to oppose this kind of civil rights violations and we have to oppose this kind of
human rights intrusion.”
Organizers from Puente ─the network of individuals who evolved from the committee organizing the protests at Pruitt’
s─ and Arpaio’s opponents in general vow to maintain the daily sit-ins outside the Wells Fargo building for two
months, and to achieve their goal to force MCSO out of their offices. Customers from the banking corporation will be
encouraged to withdraw their money and close their accounts if Wells Fargo continues to lease space to Maricopa
County.
human rights intrusion.”
Organizers from Puente ─the network of individuals who evolved from the committee organizing the protests at Pruitt’
s─ and Arpaio’s opponents in general vow to maintain the daily sit-ins outside the Wells Fargo building for two
months, and to achieve their goal to force MCSO out of their offices. Customers from the banking corporation will be
encouraged to withdraw their money and close their accounts if Wells Fargo continues to lease space to Maricopa
County.
| Related Article: New Batch of Protests in Phoenix to Target Wells Fargo Building |
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