Respect/Respeto

http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=90669&cat=Politics+News&more=%2Fpolitics%2F

Police Investigate Phoenix Residents’ Immigration Status 
 
February 19, 2008 
 

Activists in Arizona expressed their concern over the possible implementation of a new policy by which the Phoenix police could check into the immigration status of people accused of committing even minor offenses such as jaywalking.

In accord with the recommendations presented last Friday by a panel of experts to Mayor Phil Gordon, the police could delve into the immigration status of any suspected lawbreaker.

Lydia Guzman, the spokesperson for the organization respect/respeto, said that the main problem with the recommendation is that it does not give a definition of what will be considered a “minor offense.”

She said that even offenses as minor at littering or jaywalking could be subject to the proposed rule.

“Practically, the definition of what is a minor offense depends on the judgment of the police officer who detains the person,” she told Efe.

Although the panel of experts recommended that people who commit traffic infractions may not be questioned about their immigration status, it did not clarify whether that exception would include something like driving without a license.

A state law denies undocumented immigrants in Arizona the privilege of obtaining a driver’s license, and thus many people in Phoenix feel forced to get behind the wheel without the document.

Phoenix police chief Jack Harris announced last Saturday that the changes in the city’s internal immigration policy could enter into effect within 60 to 90 days.

In the coming days, the panel’s recommendations will be presented to various police department committees as well as associations representing rank-and-file officers.

“We mustn’t forget that these changes must first be approved by the city council before they can be implemented,” Guzman said.

The panel made up of former U.S. attorneys Jose Rivera and Paul Charlton, erstwhile Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods and former Maricopa County district attorney Rick Romley also recommended that nobody who has been the victim of or a witness to a crime may be questioned by police about their immigration status.

The implementation of the changes concerns activist Magdalena Schwartz, who is organizing community forums to inform immigrants about their rights.

“I agree that a person who is committing a crime or is sought by the authorities should be arrested,” Schwartz said.

“What worries me is that people may be arrested and deported for minimal infractions like running a red light or not carrying auto insurance,” she added.

As an example, she mentioned the case of immigrant Francisco Ortiz, who was arrested by Phoenix police last week after he was the victim of an assault and called to report it.

Or the case of Noe Diaz, who has lived in the United States for 14 years and was arrested by the police of nearby Tempe, Arizona, a week ago after she showed a Mexican-issued document known as a “matricula consular” (consular I.D.) as a form of identification when she reported a crime.

“The police were more interested in questioning Diaz about her immigration status than about verifying what had happened,” said the activist.

Over the last five years, Arizona lawmakers and voters have approved a series of measures designed to make life harder for undocumented immigrants, such as denying them access to certain public benefit programs.

Perhaps the toughest law so far was the one that took effect Jan. 1 imposing penalties on employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/heroes/jose.gutierrez.html

Fallen Marine wanted to give back to adopted country
‘May the firearms be silent’

By Jeordan Legon
CNN
LOMITA, California (CNN) — He was one of the first U.S. soldiers killed in combat in Iraq, even though the United States wasn’t quite his country.

Lance Cpl. Jose Antonio Gutierrez, 22, an orphan who grew up on the streets of Guatemala City, made the perilous border crossing through Mexico and entered the U.S. illegally when he was 14, his family said.

He was later granted legal resident status and went to high school and college in California before joining the Marines in March 2002. Only a year in the service, Gutierrez died March 21 in a firefight near the Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr.

“He has been given many opportunities since coming here and he wanted to give back a little bit to his adopted country,” said Nora Mosquera, Gutierrez’s foster mother.

The lanky youth dreamed of becoming an architect and bringing his sister, Engracia Sirin Gutierrez, from Guatemala.

The sister visited Southern California in time to meet Gutierrez’s flag-draped casket at the entrance of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church April 7. Now she’s hoping for permission to live in the United States.

“I do feel proud, because not just anyone gives up their life for another country,” she told reporters at a news conference recently. “But at the same time it makes me sad because he fought for something that wasn’t his.”

Cardinal Roger Mahony told the standing-room-only crowd at Gutierrez’s mass that they were honoring “a great man” and an American citizen. Gutierrez was awarded his U.S. citizenship posthumously.

Bruce Harris, director of Casa Alianza, a shelter for Guatemalan street children, said Gutierrez was 8 when he went to live there. His parents both died by the time he was 4, Mosquera said.

“He would inhale a toxic shoe glue at times to escape from the hunger and loneliness,” Harris said.

But yearning for a better life, the strong-willed youth left Guatemala, hopping trains and hitchhiking through Mexico until he reached the United States, Mosquera said.

“Jose was an excellent example of a child who had many problems early on, but somehow, with his strong faith in God, he was able to overcome those obstacles to reach his goals,” she said.

Along with his love of soccer and chess, Gutierrez also enjoyed writing poetry, Mosquera said. “Letter to God,” a poem he wrote in 2000, was read at his funeral.

“Thank you for permitting me to live another year, thank you for what I have, for the type of person I am, for my dreams that don’t die,” he wrote in Spanish. “May the firearms be silent and the teachings of love flourish.”

Hundreds of victims and individuals simply seeking help or information found the answers they were looking for thanks to the efforts of Respect/Respeto and Univision 33. On Thursday, Jan. 31, the Phoenix affiliate of Univision teamed up with Respect/Respeto to organize a telethon backed by a program that ran across the state. Viewers were urged to call-in and seek help for human rights abuses.

The program, 33 A su lado, and telethon were a culmination of three segments aired about Respect/Respeto on Univision 33. The three segments ran on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday during the five o’clock news cast and illuminated the mission of Respect/Respeto, some of the victims it has helped and how viewers could get involved with the organization.

On Thursday evening, over 40 volunteers manned the Respect/Respeto hot line during various hours of the evening as Univision 33 broadcast multiple live shots of the call center and asked viewers to call in. The phone lines rang continuously throughout the evening as volunteers gathered story after story from victims of human rights abuses.

Thousands of questions were answered, hundreds of voices were heard and dozens of stories were told for the very first time in confidence.

Respect/Respeto was glad to be a part of such a life-changing evening for so many different individuals. Keep checking the blog for updates on this story and Respect/Respeto’s continued community involvement.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his armed posse of roughly 150 Maricopa County police officers dropped their mobile command outpost in central Phoenix on Friday night, Jan. 18. Armed with a brigade of officers, a mobile detention center and two command RVs the officers took aim at local residents. Within their sights was a 6-mile radius of central Phoenix from 16th St. to 40th St. from McDowell to Indian School where the Sheriff claimed to be “investigating rising criminal activity within the neighborhood” at the request of several local business owners.

Contrary to what the Sheriff’s office claimed as a rise in criminal activity within the area, the Phoenix Police Department’s statistics actually indicate a drop in robbery, homicide, violent crime and theft from 2006. Many have claimed, including Respect/Respeto board members, that the Sheriff’s actual intent in the area was to root out illegal immigrants through racial profiling and other human rights abuses.

Members of Respect/Respeto arrived on the scene amidst a crowd of roughly 50 other individuals demanding to know the Sheriff’s purpose in the area and petitioning his presence. Respect/Respeto members distributed panel cards to worried onlookers in the crowd, educated them on their rights as human beings and voiced their outrage at the Sheriff’s operations and his detention of Hispanic individuals.

Respect/Respeto spokesperson Lydia Guzman educates community members on their human right and where to go for help.

One of the night’s victims, a legal U.S. citizen, was detained by the Sheriff for committing no crime other than the color of his skin and his Hispanic name. Respect/Respeto was on the scene to help and has already sought action on behalf of this individual. Keep checking the blog for updates on this story and Respect/Respeto’s continued community involvement.

For Immediate release
Tuesday, January the 15th 2007
Media Contact: Carmen Cornejo
(480) 324-6378

 High School Principal is Recognized for her Work in Support of Undocumented Students

In recognition for her work on the civil rights of undocumented students, GateWay Early College High School Principal Yvonne Watterson will be honored at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast, the theme of which is “Stand Up for Justice. The annual celebration will take place Friday, January 18th at the Phoenix Convention Center, West Building. Doors will open at 6:30. Breakfast and ceremony will be held from 7:00 to 9:30.

The Phoenix Convention Center is located at 100 N. 3dr. Street in Phoenix.

The event will honor seven winners of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Living the Dream Awards” and one Calvin C. Goode Lifetime Achievement Award both honoring Phoenix residents who had contributed significantly to creating a compassionate and socially just society.

Principal Watterson will be receiving the “Living the Dream Award,” along with the following:

Deedra Abboud, executive director, Muslim American Society of Arizona Freedom Foundation. Dr. Rufus Glasper, Chancellor, Maricopa County Community College District. Imran and Yasmine Hafiz, co-authors, “The American Muslim Teenager’s Handbook”. Fatimah Halim, founder, Life Paradigms Inc.Isabel McMahel, founder, Whole Life International Foundation.

The Calvin C. Goode Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is given posthumously to Rev. Dr. G. Benjamin Brooks Sr., founding Pastor South Minister Presbyterian Church,

Accompanying Principal Watterson will be teachers from GateWay Early College High School and members of CADENA, a group of activists for the rights of undocumented students. The group has been lobbying and advocating for the passage of the DREAM Act and now is focusing its work on making students aware of their rights and how to avoid deportation from the only country they have ever known.

Ms. Watterson expressed : “This award belongs to all those who can speak on behalf of those who have no voice – our undocumented students, our undocumented dreamers. I would like to recognize the courage of the Commission for recognizing our pursuit of justice for these innocent kids, those for whom the DREAM Act died this year, those who must continue to live in the shadows. This is not a popular fight, but we are committed to continuing our work for these kids – Dr. King’s dream belongs to everyone, because human rights are everyone’s rights. Sadly, these young people have become the collateral damage in the war over immigration, and we must not forget them. They have been denied the DREAM Act, suffered under Prop 300, and now must contemplate a future without their parents who may be affected by the recent employer sanctions.”

The breakfast is sponsored by the Arizona Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee and supported by the Phoenix Human Relations Commission. This event will kick off a series of activities in honor of the great American Civil and Human Rights icon.

Check out this video that shows you your rights in case of a raid by immigration authorities or a police intervention.

Valley Group Helps Minority Victims

A new organization has been formed in the Valley to provide support to minority victims of crime and civil rights violations.

“Respect/Respeto” runs a hotline for people with a wide range of complaints, who feel they have nowhere else to turn.
(Click here to read full article)

Also, Photos from the event:
Respect/Respeto Volunteers
Respect/Respeto Booth

“This is the solution to all of the criticism in the community where they’ve said we don’t have a unified voice,” said spokesperson Lydia Guzman. “Even though different organizations have tried different things separately, now we’ve come together and this is the solution.”
http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/respectrespeto01052008-CR.html

From The Arizona Republic

Voice for toleranceJan. 3, 2008 12:00 AM

Something remarkable occurred Wednesday: An elected official actually stood up for immigrants.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, in his second inaugural address, defended the notion of America as a tolerant, compassionate nation. He declared that our city’s heritage is one that is open, inclusive and diverse.

“In Phoenix, we will continue to speak to the dignity of all humanity,” he said. “We will continue to value all people, all people.”

It was a brave speech to utter at a time when voices of moderation are vilified as traitors and when presidential candidates vie to be the toughest on illegal immigrants.

But Gordon drew a line. He’s for a “practical and effective” immigration reform. He’s for a system that allows “millions of honest, hardworking people” to strengthen the country. In the face of the angry restrictionists, those who want to deport 12 million immigrants, Gordon is saying we need to find a way to accommodate most of those workers in a legal way. In a sense, he is echoing the best tradition of this country and the city. Throughout history, immigration has always been a divisive, difficult process.

The host culture always feels threatened by newcomers. Even when there were no designations such as “legal” and “illegal,” Germans, Scotch-Irish, Catholic-Irish, Italians and Jews met hostility.

The immigrants came, clashed, competed and accommodated - and so did the nation. Our nation became stronger, better.
It is that proud history Gordon invokes: “The many voices of compassion in our community have always prevailed over the intolerant few.”

In recent weeks, frustrated by the flare-ups near Pruitt’s Home Furnishings and buffeted by those advocating an aggressive anti-immigrant police enforcement, the mayor stumbled in finding a balance.

But in the first speech of his second term, Gordon regained his footing in a risky and courageous stance, one worthy of a leader.