Todos Somos Arizona January Update

from comrades in Cali: Todos Somos Arizona

January 2011

Since Todos Somos Arizona was created in April 2010, upon the signing into law of Arizona’s SB 1070, we have been busy! Our goal has been to call attention and inspire resistance to laws such as SB 1070, and to call for an end to the criminalization of immigrants and communities of color. It is to these racist laws and policies that place a target on the backs of immigrants and people of color, that we say, “it is our moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

Check out these highlights:

• May 6, 2010: We organized a protest, where 14 people staged a sit-in in front of the Federal Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles blocking buses used for deportations from accessing the facility for several hours.
• July 18^, 2010: We convened a community town hall to educate each other on immigrant rights, histories of migration, current laws that legalize racial profiling and criminalize our communities.
• July 26th, 2020: Dozens of activists participate in banner drops protesting Arizona’s SB1070 and calling for an end to the criminalization of immigrant communities.
• July 29^, 2010: On the day SB 1070 took effect, 10 more people from our collective engaged in an act of civil disobedience at the Los Angeles headquarters of G4S/Wackenhut Corporation, a private prison and security corporation that lobbied for and stands to profit from SB 1070.

Since then, the 24 Todos Somos Arizona demonstrators along with many others struggling for social and economic justice in Los Angeles have become the targets of an unprecedented politicized prosecution by the Los Angeles City Attorney that seeks to criminalize dissent at a moment when dissent is most necessary. For their decision to stand peacefully for justice, they have been charged with multiple misdemeanors and threatened with the possibility of up to one year in jail. The charges and potential jail time in these cases are far more severe than anything faced by those who took similar actions in Santa Ana, Arizona, and elsewhere.

What does this mean? We have more work to do!

Todos Somos Arizona is organizing an action, in collaboration with the other local groups being targeted by the City for their acts of protest, to denounce this criminalization of dissent and continue to call for end to the criminalization of immigrant communities and communities of color!

PLEASE JOIN US!

WHAT: Street theater demonstration in front of City Attorney, Carmen Trutanich’s office

WHERE: City Hall East.

WHEN: January 18, 2011

TIME: 9:30 a.m.

And please stay tuned for upcoming Todos Somos Arizona events!

In Solidarity,

Todos Somos Arizona

Costa Mesa action against the "Rule of Law"

June 15, 2010 — The City of Costa Mesa passed a resolution labeling itself a "Rule of Law City" against the undocumented immigrants! Costa Mesa has declared war on our community! The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has provided the city an ICE agent in their local jail to deport anyone without the "proper documentation". How can we help the police if we don't trust them? Our families will be torn apart and we cannot let that happen! The city has no jurisdiction on laws related to immigration, but yet the City Council has made of its city a smaller version of Arizona with the same harmful consequences on the people of Costa Mesa! *** This protest was organized by the people of Costa Mesa

Protesters chain themselves at Santa Ana federal building to protest Arizona law

LA Times

Eight people who chained themselves together outside the federal building in Santa Ana were arrested during a noisy noontime protest Thursday.

The protesters, most of whom dispersed after police shut down Santa Ana Boulevard, had gathered to protest Arizona’s recent immigration legislation and to call on Santa Ana to declare itself a sanctuary city.

Eight of the protesters had chained themselves together with lock boxes and stood at the driveway of the federal detention center.

“We want an end to racist anti-migrant laws,” said Anna Vilchis, 22, a recent UC Berkeley graduate who lives in Santa Ana. “Undocumented people are human beings, we’re not criminals.”

Police successfully dispersed dozens of protesters who were standing in the area and at noon had given a final warning to the chained protesters to disperse before beginning arrests, said police spokesman Anthony Bertagna.

Bertagna said those arrested were taken to the city jail and will be cited and released. He said the protesters did not advise police about the protest, making it difficult for them to prepare. "This type of event drains our resources," he said.

The protesters said they were part of a loosely affiliated group calling itself “We are Arizona.”

-- Paloma Esquivel from Santa Ana