Arizona's Immigrant Communities Fight Back Against Discriminatory Law

Summer is always hot in Arizona, but the summer of 2010 may be hotter than any in recent memory.

On April 23, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law the toughest bill on immigration today. This legislation, SB1070, grants police officers the power to stop and interrogate anyone they suspect is an undocumented immigrant. In other words, local authorities are given license to racially profile any individual. If they are unable to verify their citizenship, they can be arrested and fined $500 on the spot.

When Brewer signed the bill, it was the last in a long line of abuses against immigrants. But the people of Arizona, outraged over the racist and anti-immigrant policies and practices sanctioned by the state, are beginning to fight back. Although the law is not slated to go into effect until August, marches, demonstrations, and boycotts are already well underway. The people of Arizona are taking it to the streets.

City councils across the country — in Boston, West Hollywood, Oakland, Tucson, and Flagstaff — have all passed resolutions against SB1070, and San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on city worker’s official travel to Arizona. The Phoenix Suns even demonstrated their solidarity with migrant communities when they wore jerseys with “Los Suns” on Cinco de Mayo.

Yet the most determined opposition to the bill comes from the Arizona migratory communities that are experiencing a state of siege. They are no longer willing to be treated as refuse, and they’re making a straightforward declaration that we are human beings: Somos seres humanos. Even as they are being threatened with deportation, they are flatly stating that they're here and they're not leaving: Aqui estamos. No nos vamos.

Assault on Mothers

Over Mother’s Day weekend, an emergency human rights delegation of feminist leaders, journalists, and grassroots organizers went to Phoenix to document and lift up the experiences of women and children in the wake of the hostile anti-immigrant climate. The delegation heard testimonies from undocumented women and children. It also visited the Tent City detention centers established by Joe Arpaio, the infamous sheriff of Maricopa County. 

“I’ve been talking with mothers, and their children are asking, ‘what is going to happen if they take my mother away? What will I do? Where will I go?’” explains Martha Vargas, leader of Puente, a Phoenix-based human rights group, on how the recent anti-immigrant law was affecting women and children in Arizona.

The testimonies provided insight into how SB1070 has aggravated the assault on their basic human rights through state-sanctioned violence.

“I never knew this could happen,” said Catherine, a nine-year old girl whose parents were recently arrested in a workplace raid. She was among several young children who recalled returning from school to find their parents not home. They later received a call from immigration officials informing them that their parents had been detained, some for several months. One child shared a drawing of her house, which was caged. Several children, when asked what they wanted to become when they grew up, responded that that they wanted to become policemen so they could arrest Joe Arpaio. The rest wanted to be lawyers, reflecting the children’s desire for power to right the wrongs affecting their families’ lives.

“We come here to work and all the time were just trying to survive,” Catherine’s mother, Sandra testified. “But we have to live closed in fear.” Woman after woman shared how everyone is afraid to come out of their homes, whether to drive to the grocery store or to send their children to school. One woman named Terri told the delegation that she had often given rides to people going to the doctor or to the store, but “since SB 1070 was signed, a lot of people haven’t been coming out, even to get free food.”