3 Arizona Immigration Protesters Arrested

ARIZONA REPUBLIC

By Daniel Gonzalez

September 4, 2012

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2012/09/04/20120904arizona-immigration-protesters-arrested.html

Three Arizona residents were among 10 undocumented immigrants arrested Tuesday while protesting at the Democratic National Convention.

The protesters, part of a group called "No Papers No Fear," are upset with President Barack Obama over the deportation of record numbers of people and for not doing enough to pass comprehensive immigration reform, including a legalization program for the millions of illegal immigrants living in the U.S., according to a written statement issued by the group.

"We want him to be remembered as the one who found the way to include the millions struggling for a better life in this country, not to be remembered as the president who deported more people than anyone else in the history of the country," the statement said.

The Democratic convention platform includes an immigration plank stating that "Democrats are strongly committed to enacting comprehensive immigration reform," including bringing "undocumented immigrants out of the shadows."

The platform also acknowledges that recent immigration-policy changes implemented by Obama's administration are only temporary.

One of those changes will allow as many as 1.76 million young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors to apply to stay and work for two years without risk of being deported.

The Republican National Convention adopted a platform last week that opposes "any form of amnesty" for illegal immigrants and demands that the Justice Department halt lawsuits against states such as Arizona that have enacted immigration-enforcement laws.

The statement said the Arizona residents -- Gerardo Torres and Maria Cruz Ramirez of Phoenix and Eleazar Castellanos of Tucson -- were arrested after they placed a banner that said "No papers No Fear" at the entrance of a checkpoint leading to the Democratic convention, which is being held in Charlotte, N.C.

The statement said the undocumented immigrants are testing one of Obama's policy changes that directs immigration prosecutors to use discretion to deport criminals instead of illegal immigrants with clean records and strong ties to the community.