Immigration activists head to Arizona for protest

28 May, 2010 23:25 / Updated 15 years ago

An upcoming protest supporting immigrants and immigration reform is expected to garner 50,000 participants in Arizona

 “We fully intend to send a message to the White House and the Congress of the United States and to the world for that matter that enough is enough,” said Juan Jose Gutierrez, the president of Vamos Unidos USA, a non-profit organization that serves undocumented and document immigrants in the US.

Gutierrez continued, “We’re not going to accept the roll of modern day slaves that many people in this country seem intent on delegating to people of Latino origin.”

Recent polls indicate that nearly 70 percent of Americans support the controversial Arizona immigration law and that nearly 69 percent oppose Arizona boycotts over the law.

“The fact of the matter is that most American people are very misinformed about what’s going on in immigrant communities across the country today, specifically when it has to do with Latino immigrants,” said Gutierrez.

He argues that if the American people knew of the hundreds of thousands of people who had been arrested and separated from their families, and that immigrants are abused and have no rights to public services they would have a different view on the issue.

“I don’t buy the argument that the majority of the American people support racist, fascist like legislation in this country,” said Gutierrez.

Polls are often misleading or tailored for certain results leading to a misinformed population.

“Many people believe that where undocumented workers removed from the country the whole issues of unemployment would be resolved thoroughly. The fact of the matter is that that’s not the case. Undocumented workers by-and-large are taking jobs that American people don’t want to have,” said Gutierrez.