I hear a lot of concern for POSSIBLE violations of civil rights, and NONE for an unsecured border by these people. Secure the border and this law becomes MOOT. That is the fastest way to alleviate this problem, NOT protest of the law in order to ensure MS-13 can come and go and kidnap as they please.Hispanics and Democratic lawmakers furious over Arizona's harsh crackdown on illegal immigrants expect huge weekend rallies across the United States, piling pressure on President Barack Obama to overhaul immigration laws in this election year.
Protest organizers on Wednesday said outrage over the Arizona law -- which seeks to drive illegal immigrants out of the state bordering Mexico -- has galvanized Latinos and would translate into a higher turnout for May Day rallies in more than 70 U.S. cities.
"The marches and demonstrations are going to be far more massive than they otherwise would have been," said Juan Jose Gutierrez, a Los Angeles rally organizer who runs an immigration assistance company.
The backlash began on Friday after Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law a measure that requires state and local police to determine a person's immigration status if there is "reasonable suspicion" they are undocumented. Critics say it is unconstitutional and opens the door to racial profiling.
The crowds on the streets, from Los Angeles to New York, could be the biggest since 2006, when hundreds of thousands of marchers urged former President George W. Bush to overhaul federal immigration laws. He tried, but failed in Congress.
"With what's going on in Arizona we see renewed energy for folks to fight for immigration reform," said Marissa Graciosa, of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, an organizer of rallies and vigils this Friday and Saturday.
In Washington, meanwhile, a diverse group of more than two dozen lawmakers -- Hispanics, blacks, Asians and whites -- held a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol to denounce the Arizona law as a violation of civil rights.
Obama will never propose to cure the civil rights issue, and there IS one, by curing the underlying problem ..THE BORDER
One can only wonder cynically, WHY NOT?
With a secured border we will all be free to discuss BOTH open immigration and the path to citizenship or expulsion those here illegally can choose for themselves. Until then protesting a law designed to help safeguard, DESPERATELY, the citizens of a locality is an ugly absurdity.
If the daily situation was not unbearable such a law would never even have been discussed let alone passed.