Thousands rally in Mexico City, Phoenix and elsewhere to protest Arizona's anti-immigrant law
Times Online and Reuters
Demonstrators dressed as members of the Ku Klux Klan protested outside the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City against Arizona’s immigration law.
Thousands marched in Phoenix with separate rallies of supporters and opponents filling a five-mile stretch of the city. There were also protests in Texas, Oregon and San Francisco. Critics said that the law could lead to racial profiling.
Civil rights and labor group activists from across the United States -- carrying banners that read: "Obama Keep Your Promise" -- rallied to protest the law, which requires state and local police to investigate the immigration status of people they suspect are in the country illegally.
Activists want Obama to order federal authorities not to accept custody of illegal immigrants detained under the law.
They also want the Obama administration to revoke the so-called 287g agreement, which deputizes officers from local police agencies to enforce federal immigration laws.
The Arizona law seeks to push illegal immigrants from the desert state, a major corridor for migrant and drug smugglers crossing the border from Mexico. The measure is supported by a solid majority of voters both in Arizona and nationally.
The law is due to take effect on July 29, subject to legal challenges.
"We want to stop the spread of the law around the country," said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, one of the organizers of the Phoenix march.
