<ChicagoMayDay> Fw: Immigrant Students Protest at McCain Office
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Illegal Immigrant Students Protest at McCain Office
By JULIA PRESTON
In an escalation of protest tactics, five immigrants dressed in caps
and gowns held a sit-in on Monday at the Tucson offices of Senator John McCain, calling on him to sponsor legislation to open a path to legal status for young illegal immigrants.
Four of the protesters, including three who are in the country
illegally, were arrested Monday evening on misdemeanor trespassing
charges. The three were expected to face deportation proceedings.
It was the first time students have directly risked deportation in an
effort to prompt Congress to take up a bill that would benefit illegal
immigrant youths.
Separately on Monday, a lawsuit was filed in federal court in Phoenix
by a coalition of civil rights, labor and religious groups challenging
the new Arizona law that allows the police to detain suspected illegal
immigrants as unconstitutional, saying it would lead to racial
profiling.
Though it was the fifth suit challenging the law, it was widely
believed to have the best chance of being heard by the courts given the
groups’ experience and the nature of the complaint.
Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for Mr. McCain, said of the protesters,
“The individuals have a right to peacefully protest in the senator’s
office,” and added that Mr. McCain “understands the students’
frustrations.”
But she said: “Elections have consequences, and they should focus their
efforts on the president and the Democrats that control the agenda in
Congress.”
Mr. McCain, a Republican, has in years past repeatedly sponsored a bill
that would offer legalization for illegal immigrant students who were
brought to the United States as children by their parents, known to its
supporters as the Dream Act. But this year he has not. Mr. McCain is facing a primary challenge from J.D Hayworth, a talk show host who has taken a tough stand on illegal immigrants.
The students protesting in Mr. McCain’s office said they wanted to
increase pressure on Congress to pass the Dream Act this year, even if
lawmakers do not take up a broader overhaul of the immigration system. The student bill is currently part of a Democratic proposal for an overhaul, largely written by Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York.
“I’ve been organizing for years, and a lot of my friends have become
frustrated and lost hope,” said one of the students, Lizbeth Mateo, 25.
“We don’t have any more time to be waiting. I really believe this year
we can make it happen.”
Ms. Mateo, who came to the United States when she was 14, said she paid full tuition to earn a degree from California State University,
Northridge, the first member of her family to graduate from college.
She said her plans to attend law school had failed because she lacked
legal status.
Ms. Mateo was arrested, along with Mohammad Abdollahi, 24, of Ann
Arbor, Mich.; and Yahaira Carrillo, 25, of Kansas City, Mo. All three
are illegal immigrants.
Also arrested was Raúl Alcaraz, 27, an immigrant from Mexico who is a legal resident and a counselor at a Tucson high school.
The protesters walked into Mr. McCain’s office just before noon and sat in the lobby.
Tania Unzueta, 26, who is from Los Angeles, joined the sit-in, but she
said the group decided she should leave the protest in order to avoid
arrest.
Mr. Abdollahi said he could not return to Iran, where he was born, because he is gay and feared persecution there.
Margo Cowan, a lawyer representing the students, said that the Tucson
police said they would advise federal immigration authorities of the
arrests, and that she expected the students would be put in immigration
detention.
Illegal immigrant students have become increasingly public in their
protests in recent months, as the prospects for an immigration overhaul
faded in Washington. Four immigrant students walked from Miami to
Washington, arriving in late April. So far, immigration authorities
have not moved to detain student protesters.
Lawmakers are divided over whether to take up the Dream Act as separate legislation. Andy Fisher, a spokesman for Senator Richard G. Lugar
of Indiana, a Republican who is a lead sponsor of the bill, said that
the senator did not support any effort to advance a comprehensive
immigration overhaul this year, but that he believed the Dream Act
could be “doable” separately.
An aide to Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, a Democrat who is the act’s other lead sponsor, said he continued to see it as part of an overhaul.
Lawyers for the groups that filed the suit over the Arizona immigration
law Monday took aim at a chief argument of its supporters: that it
largely parallels existing federal statutes. The lawyers said the
Arizona law went further because federal agents are not required to
check the immigration status of people they stop or arrest, as the
state law requires.
Randal C. Archibold contributed reporting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/us/18dream.html
Pueblo Politics: Activists arrested in immigration protest at McCain's office
Rhonda Bodfield | Posted: Monday, May 17, 2010 7:09 pm | Comments
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Four young immigration activists, three undocumented, were arrested for trespass when they refused to leave U.S. Sen. John McCain’s Tucson office after closing.
Initially, five activists, all dressed in graduation caps and gowns, launched a sit-in around lunchtime, while about 50 supporters chanted and cheered them outside. Just before 6 p.m., Tania Unzueta, a 26-year-old who has lived in Chicago since she was 10, came out to serve as a spokesperson, saying she had the weakest immigration case.
She cried as she waited for the arrests. “I know how they’re feeling right now. They’re scared, but they know this is the right thing to do.”
The activists were part of a larger coalition of student-aged activists who are demanding that Congress revisit the DREAM Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for students who meet certain requirements, including living in the United States for five consecutive years, arriving before the age of 16, and completing a high school or general equivalency diploma.
In 2007, then-presidential contender McCain was absent for a vote on the act, which failed to advance in the Senate by eight votes.
McCain’s office released a statement saying that while he understands the students’ frustrations, “elections have consequences and they should focus their efforts on the President and the Democrats that control the agenda in Congress.”
One of those arrested, 25-year-old Lizbeth Mateo, came to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 14. She became the first in her family to graduate from high school and said she graduated from California State University with a bachelor’s in chicano studies. While she took the test for law school, she said, she couldn’t take any scholarships because of her status.
“I’ve been a good student. I’ve never been in trouble,” she said, adding she’s willing to take the risk that she’ll be deported. “Living life this way without hope is not enough.”
Mohammad Abdollahi, a 24-year-old from Iran who lives in Michigan, was also arrested, saying he’s willing to face deportation as well. “It’s a risk everybody in our community faces on a daily basis. And at the end of the day, we need a solution.”
The other two arrestees include 27-year-old Raúl Alcaraz, a legal permanent resident who lives in Tucson, and Yahaira Cariillo, who is originally from Mexico but lives in Kansas City.
A police van backed up to the office doors, allowing the crowd only a brief glimpse of the waving arrestees.
Flavia de la Fuente, the spokeswoman for the group and a 22-year-old political science student at UCLA, said the goal is to create a “moral crisis” that will trigger rallies, vigils, hunger strikes and other demonstrations across the nation.
While other protests are planned at congressional offices of both parties across the country, de la Fuente said Arizona was picked as a battleground both because McCain in the past was a supporter of the act, and because of the new immigration law. “I think a standard based on enforcement and racial profiling is not a standard America wants for its immigration policy,” she said. Although racial profiling is expressly prohibited in the law, she said the vagueness of the law will make profiling the natural result.
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Monday, May 17, 2010 7:09 pm
Illegal Immigrant Students Protest at McCain Office
A Gay Immigrant Reaches for a DREAM
Arrest of Ann Arbor man leads to calls for vigils
Iranian included in arrests outside of McCain's Tucson office
Pueblo Politics: Activists arrested in immigration protest at McCain's office
Michigan
BREAKING: Undocumented youth protesting at McCain's office in Tuscon arrested
Ann Arbor man part of sit-in protest at Sen. John McCain's Tuscon office
Michigan man leads immigration protest in Arizona
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