UofA Students Chain Selves to Old Capitol Bldng In Protest

SB 1070, a bill that would be the nation's toughest crackdown on illegal immigration, sits on Arizona Governor Brewers desk awaiting her signature. It's basically a blanket legislation allowing for legal racial profiling. It's wrong and needs to be stopped. Ahead of todays rally against the bill in Phoenix today a group of UofA students chained themselves to the door of the old Capitol building to protest SB 1070. 

Here's a look at what the bill would do:

- Create the state crime of "willful failure to complete or carry an alien registration document," effectively criminalizing the presence of illegal immigrants.

- Require local police officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are here illegally.

- Allow Arizona residents to sue if they feel a government agency has adopted a policy that hinders the enforcement of illegal immigration laws. Judges could fine agencies that are found to have such policies.

- Prohibit people from blocking traffic when they seek or offer day-labor services on street corners, and prohibit illegal immigrants from working or seeking work as an independent contractor.

- Make it illegal to knowingly transport illegal immigrants if the driver is in violation of a separate criminal offense, with exceptions for emergency workers and Child Protective Services employees.

The Rally just 75 yards from the chained UofA protesters,was attended by

various religious and community leaders urging Gov. Jan Brewer to veto the measure which now sits on her desk.

 

Petitions with more than 80,000 signatures urging a veto were hand delivered to gubernatorial press aide Paul Senseman, who met with them privately. Brewer was in Tucson on Tuesday.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik pronounced the legislation to be “political fornicaboobery.” Dupnik said his officers already have the right — and do — stop people who they believe are in this country illegally.

And outside the state, Roger Mahoney, the cardinal of Los Angeles, said the legislation amounts to “reverting to German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation.”

Courtesy of  EastValleyTribune.com