More than one dozen protesters chained themselves together, locked themselves in a circle, and blocked downtown traffic for four hours in protest of Arizona's new immigration law. This demonstration shows that SB 1070, the new Arizona law that criminalizes illegal immigrants, has already caused a string of trouble in Los Angeles.
KTLA News reports that protesters blocked the front entrance of the federal immigration detention center on Thursday to show their opposition to Arizona's new immigration law. They said that the detention center symbolizes the incarceration and internment of immigrants in this country, as well as a symbol for the separation of families.
People in the protesting group said that they refused to cooperate with police officers when they were asked to provide identification cards or their names.
Dozens of law enforcers surrounded the group and said that their protest was an unlawful assembly. They proceeded to arrest the protesters, who were booked for delaying, resisting and obstructing officers. But perhaps some Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys will be able to sympathize with their cause and may agree to defend them free of charge, or at least at a reasonable rate.
"This detention center symbolizes the incarceration and internment of so many immigrants and the separation of families," the protesters said in a released statement. "We are here in solidarity with the millions of undocumented immigrants and Latinos and other people of color labeled as illegal because of how they look and whose humanity is being denied by the inability to provide documentation proving their status."
Related Resources:
- Lawsuits Filed Over Arizona Immigration Law (FindLaw's Law and Daily Life Blog)
- Arizona Passes Controversial Immigration Bill (FindLaw's Law and Daily Life Blog)
- Find a Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney (FindLaw)
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