We’re used to protests in downtown Phoenix, especially around the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on Central Ave. I noticed a handful of people assembling on the street this afternoon, and about dinnertime the chants started and the crowd grew. It’s after 1011PM now, helicopters are overhead, the streets are shut down, cops are everywhere, drums are drumming, bullhorns are blaring and the chants are loud.
It turns out a 36-year-old Latina discovered this afternoon that she was going to be one of the first immigrants deported under Trump’s signature executive order on immigration. Immediately Puente Arizona organized a rally and protestors blocked the deportation van from leaving ICE, by wrapping themselves around the wheels. They’re still at it.
The protest is in support of Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, who came here 22 years ago at the age of 14. After more than two decades in Arizona, she’s now married and has two children. Both her husband and children are US citizens, and for years customs officials have allowed her to remain. What’s to gain by sending her back, other than ripping a family apart?
But that changed Wednesday, when Garcia de Rayos went to check in as usual at the central Phoenix offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Instead of being released, she was taken into custody, while her husband, two children — both U.S.-born citizens — and a group of supporters watched in tears.
So there’s the party of family values. Apparently Garcia de Rayos was detained because a decade ago she was nabbed in a workplace raid, one of Sheriff Arpaio’s “sweeps” through the miniature golf park where she worked. Following her arrest, and a felony conviction for ID theft, she spent six months in a county lockup and an ICE detention center. Unfortunately, Garcia de Rayos has a record now, and Trump’s Jan. 25 executive order prioritizes deporting immigrants who’ve been arrested, even though Arpaio’s sweeps were later ruled unconstitutional.
So tonight a family and friends wait, while others chant and surround ICE vehicles. Her attorney, who has filed documents asking the Feds to stay the deportation, said:
"She's built a great life for herself and her children, and her kids want her to be home at night. Her kids want her to take them to school, to be at the parent-teacher conference, to see them go to prom, and to see them graduate, and more than anything she deserves to live a life she has built."
Welcome to TrumpWorld, and this is just the beginning. This administration has the names and addresses of more than 700,000 DREAMERs, who came out of the shadows and trusted the US to honor its part of the deal. Watching the last couple weeks, I wouldn't bet on that. The protest is getting bigger and louder. Stay safe, people.
UPDATE: For the last hour or so it’s been a stand-off, with about 30 police in riot helmets on one side of the street, blocking access to ICE, and maybe a couple hundred protesters along the other side of the street. Some drifted away, at least 7 were arrested, but they’re still vocal, and young. A fight just about broke out when some ICE officials tried to engage the crowd.
OK, gotta get to bed. The story went national on MSNBC tonight (twice on Brian Williams) but I can’t find a link. At nearly midnight the crowd started to break up after the cops stood down, and then about 100 protesters shut down Central Ave., including cars and the light rail. The woman who stood on the tracks facing the oncoming train reminded me of Tank Man. I’m out.