Monday was May Day, also known as International Worker’s Day, a celebration of labor rights that has evolved in recent years into a day to also honor the contributions of immigrants.
The group Puente Arizona lead a rally at the Statehouse Complex against the immigration policies of the Trump administration. And on Monday morning, the group Promise Arizona was winding down from an all-night vigil and meeting with lawmakers to ask them to fund education instead of more border enforcement.
David Ayala Zamora, field director at Promise Arizona, was part of a march Sunday night to the site of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s now-closed tent city, where people accused of immigration violations were held in harsh conditions.
“Marchers have been there to celebrate that such a place has been closed by the new sheriff,” Ayala Zamora said; “and at the same time to remember all the suffering and the pain of families who were broken apart by that place.”
Promise Arizona held a children’s march to City Hall and then the State Capitol on Sunday. That culminated in a rally celebrating the role of the judiciary, which has thwarted several of President Trump’s executive orders, including a travel ban and a move to pull federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities.
Ayala Zamora said he’s troubled by the recent deportations of people who lacked legal papers but were otherwise law-abiding, with jobs and longstanding family ties.
“President Trump said that he was going to deport those who committed crimes, and we are seeing that he is taking away and deporting people who do not have crimes,” he said. “Some of them are protected by DACA.”
Paz Arizona also held a citizenship day on Monday at its office in Phoenix to help people who are legal residents become U.S. citizens.
Public News Service – AZ
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