Marchers supporting immigration reform and counter-protesters upset with porous borders met face to face at the Capitol May 1.
Police said about 16,000 marched through downtown to the Capitol. They filed past a much smaller group gathered on the House lawn to voice a variety of anxieties about the effects of illegal immigration.
Buck Young, founder of Riders Against Illegal Aliens, was one of the counter-protesters on the House lawn. He said his reasons for protesting were mainly economic. He said illegals in the construction industry have deflated wages, forcing his family members to abandon contracting work.
He also said amnesty for illegal immigrants is “not going to happen.”
“If I went to somebody else’s house I’m not going to knock on the door and demand they feed me and everybody else,” he said, offended by illegal immigrants’ demands. “They’re robbing from my kids, from my heritage.”
On the day of the march he was under a tent selling patches and decals for his group, which he said has 80 members. Contributions will benefit Ignacio “Nacho” Ramos, a former Border Patrol agent serving an 11-year sentence for shooting an illegal immigrant and possible drug smuggler in Texas.
Young was joined by his friend Chris Jones. As Young and Jones received warm handshakes from those gathered on the House lawn mid-morning, marchers began to show up along Adams Street near the Capitol. They were wearing white shirts and caps of American sports teams and pop singers. Many carried American flags.
The signs they carried read, “We built this nation,” “My taxes are not illegal,” and “Dream Act Now,” referring to pending federal legislation meant to benefit immigrants who were brought into the country illegally by their parents.
“I’m here mainly because we can’t understand it,” said Jones, describing the “astonishing number” of illegal immigrants now living in Arizona and California. “There’s only so many jobs.”
Also on the House lawn stood Sen. Ron Gould, a Republican from Lake Havasu, who was glad to see the turnout of counter-protesters.
He said voters in his district are bothered by immigration’s negative economic effects on American workers. He said one of his constituents told him he was forced to seek tile-setting jobs in Las Vegas, only to find out Nevada’s market was also saturated with immigrant labor.
“I’m wondering where all the American construction workers went,” said Gould, who said he will back a ballot measure to force cities to abandon “sanctuary policies” for illegal immigrants.
A lighter turnout
Although thousands turned out, it was nothing compared to last year’s event that drew more than 100,000 people in favor of immigration reform.
Gould attributed the smaller crowd to a worn-out novelty and to a realization among supporters that last year’s marches may have angered the American public.
Some confrontations
Confrontations between protesters and counter-protesters were evident. Loud whistles and jeers were made toward the counter-demonstrators. Occasionally leaders with bullhorns reminded the marchers to be respectful.
A small group of young migrants stood near counter-demonstrators waving small flags.
Among them was Fernando, a 22-year-old from Guadalajara, Mexico, who entered the country four years ago illegally — and by himself.
He said he needed work and there was none to be found in Mexico. In Arizona, he earns $12 an hour as a construction worker. That wage has remained constant during his stay and he would like to become a U.S. citizen for “more work and more money.”
The immigration debate didn’t seem to particularly bother him. Even if public sentiment against illegal immigrants reaches new heights and life becomes more difficult, he said, “Aqui he estado siempre,” or “I’ve always been here.”
When tensions between the two camps grew more heated, marchers in yellow shirts who volunteered to serve as security guards for the rally’s assemblers stepped in and joined hands to form a barrier.
One young woman slipped under the barrier and was fielding angry questions from an older woman with gray hair while a police officer kept close tabs on the exchange. The conversation was cut short when an older man in a leather vest adorned with patches from a Vietnam War veterans club stepped in.
“If you’re here illegally you need to go home,” he said. “You’re destroying our country.”
What the polls say
Asked to comment on the day’s events, Professor Bruce Merrill, a polling expert with the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, said it would be a mistake to assume strong anti-illegal immigration sentiment is held only by a certain economic group.
“The people you see are just a small subset of the public opinion,” he says. “The polls are very clear. The people of Arizona see illegal immigration as the most serious problem facing the state.”
Frustration with state and federal government inaction to address illegal immigration has reached its highest pitch, says Merrill, who guaranteed voters would, if presented with, overwhelmingly pass an initiative denying due process to illegal immigrants and “sending them back in chains.”
“It’s almost as close to a consensus issue that you can have in public affairs,” he said.
But he also said his polling indicates that voters view illegal immigration as a double-sided problem: Securing the border, and what to do with all the people already here — and their children.
“People understand that’s a much more complex problem than stopping people at the border,” he said.