| BARRIOZONA |
| Sheriff's Tactics Opponents Bring 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 |
| Hispanic Institute of Social Issues © 2006-2008 All rights reserved. webmaster@hisi.org |
| 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.
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.
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
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 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.
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.
| Related Article: New Batch of Protests in Phoenix to Target Wells Fargo Building |
| Bilingual Community Expression Published by the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues |