The Selma of Immigrants' Rights

By Andrew Stelzer, In These Times. Posted November 25, 2008.

Rick Romero, the chief organizer of the Citizens Walk for Human Dignity, a weeklong protest march from Tucson to Phoenix, says he has been asked for proof of citizenship several times -- including once at a hospital, as a condition of admission for treatment. He says his wife has also been stopped and questioned.

"I learned because I've been pulled over so many times for various reasons that the only thing that really settles the argument is if you have a Social Security card," says Romero, who was born and raised in Arizona.

Many who joined Romero on the 120-mile journey focused their daily press conference comments on Operation Endgame, a 2003 ICE directive to "remove all removable aliens" from the United States by 2012. Some fear the major ICE raids this past summer in Iowa and Mississippi -- and an increasing number of smaller raids throughout the country -- could be a step toward Endgame's unattainable goal.

One of Endgame's written objectives, according to documents obtained by the Massachusetts ACLU, is to "enhance partnerships with local law enforcement agencies to develop, implement, and maintain an integrated system to share information, intelligence and resources, and to coordinate enforcement actions."

Cooperation between the MCSO and ICE certainly meets this objective, and many Arizonans believe their home state is a test case for whether the removal strategy can work on a national level.

Anti-immigrant laws

Anti-immigrant fervor in Arizona began in earnest in the wake of 9/11, and increased over the next few years. In 2004, Arizona voters approved Proposition 200, a citizen's initiative that mandated people to show proof of citizenship at the polls on Election Day.

"That opened the floodgates to more anti-immigrant rhetoric by legislators, because they saw the overwhelming support that it had by voters," says Guzman. "So by the 2006 election, all of the candidates [who] were running ... had something to say about immigration because it was a popular thing."

That same election also saw a flurry of ballot initiatives targeting the Spanish-speaking population:

• An amendment to the state constitution making English the official state language. (In 2000, voters had already made English the only language that could be taught in Arizona public schools.)

• A law that denied awarding punitive damages in civil court cases to persons who are in the United States illegally.

• Another law that denied bail to undocumented immigrants who are charged with serious felonies.

• And last but not least, Proposition 300, which denied all "state and local benefits" to those who could not provide proof of citizenship, including college scholarships and financial aid.

State Rep. Kyrsten Sinema has been battling the anti-immigrant forces since she was elected in 2004.

"Many members of the legislature are placed in a very precarious position," Sinema says. "They personally don't agree with these pieces of legislation, but are facing a lot of intense pressure from fringe elements of their political party."

She estimates that about 25 percent of the people who enter the United States illegally live in Arizona. Compounded with a tough economy, she understand why that makes people upset. But Sinema, like Mayor Gordon, says the solution lies with the feds.

"If the federal government refuses to act ... what you're seeing in Arizona will get worse," Sinema says, "and you'll see other states begin to take this kind of misguided and inappropriate action."

Bankrupting Maricopa County

Arpaio rejects all charges of racial profiling or scare tactics.

"The only people that should be fearing to go out are those that have violated the law ... and that includes illegal immigrants," he says.

While prisons and chain gangs made Arpaio famous, so far no evidence exists that the measures have prevented crime. In fact, a 1998 study by Arizona State University Criminal Justice professor Marie L. Griffin -- and commissioned by Arpaio himself -- found no difference in the recidivism rate or the attitude of inmates who served time after Arpaio's new prison policies were implemented. Crime rates haven't decreased, and the prison population itself has continued to grow in correlation with the national average.

Meanwhile, the financial impact of Arpaio's policies has begun to draw fire, as well. A December 2007 investigation by the Phoenix New Times, a weekly paper, found that from 2004 until 2007, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has more than 50 times as many lawsuits filed against it than sheriffs' agencies in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and New York combined.

Losses in court, legal fees and out-of-court settlements (mostly for the mistreatment or neglect of prisoners) have cost county taxpayers more than $41 million since Arpaio took office in 1993. What's more, the deductible for the county's insurance policy that covers lawsuits against the sheriff has risen from $1 million to $5 million over the past decade.

See more stories tagged with: immigration, arizona, arpaio, maricopa county

Andrew Stelzer, a freelance journalist in Oakland, Calif., is a producer at “Making Contact,” a weekly public affairs radio program.

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