News From the Border

Providing the news from a different front but from a war that we must win as well! I recognize the poverty and desperate conditions that many Latinos live in. We, as the USA, have a responsibility to do as much as we can to reach out to aid and assist spiritually with the Gospel and naturally with training, technology and resources. But poverty gives no one the right to break the laws of another sovereign nation.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Activists want sheriff to stop arrests

By Amanda Lee Myers
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHOENIX — Hundreds of immigrant-rights activists sparred with the sheriff of Arizona's most populous county Friday, calling him heartless for arresting illegal immigrants under a state smuggling law.

More than 200 protesters marched through a small area of downtown Phoenix and stopped in front of the office of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known for female chain gangs and forcing inmates to wear pink underwear.

Protesters walked diagonally through an intersection and met Arpaio on the other side.

"Sheriff, we are here to get on our knees and implore you to stop the hostility against the Hispanic community," said Elias Bermudez, president of activist group Inmigrantes Sin Fronteras, or Immigrants Without Borders.

Bermudez knelt in front of the sheriff as he spoke, saying, "We believe that your enforcement of the law is an affront to the poor victims — the people who are coming here to work and serve this country."

Arpaio refused to stop arresting illegal immigrants under the human smuggling law, whose authors say the legislation was intended to crack down on violent immigrant smugglers — not the people being smuggled.

posted by missionaryman | 6:07 AM

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