Dozens rally against racial profiling in law enforcement

By Zoe Sullivan
Contributing Writer

A few dozen people came out at the peak of the day’s heat to stand in front of the Federal Court building on Poydras Street and share their views on the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding one of the provisions of Arizona’s controversial SB 1070 law. The law passed in April 2010 gave police officers the right to stop anyone and demand proof of legal residency in the United States, among other powers. Critics argued that the law did little more than legitimize racial profiling of Latinos and that the legislation would discourage undocumented immigrants from approaching law enforcement even when facing crimes such as robbery or domestic violence.

Arizona has been the epicenter of the national immigration debate, with ultra-conservative groups adopting measures such as armed citizens patrolling the border, a step immigrants’ rights advocates compare to vigilantism. SB 1070 aimed to place stricter controls on immigration by putting enforcement power in the hands of local officers instead of the federal ones charged with immigration responsibilities.

In New Orleans, immigrants have been widely recognized as contributing to the city’s rebuilding after Katrina. Additionally, the Spanish colonial legacy includes area residents who trace their roots back to the Canary Islands, which were also controlled by Spain. In this century, trade relations with Honduras helped establish a significant Honduran community in the city as well.

While speakers addressed the crowd and passers-by, the racially diverse group stood behind two large banners, one of which read: “Justice: Necessary, Mandatory, Not Discretionary.” “Discre­tion­ary” refers to the prosecutorial discretion that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were urged last year to use when considering deportation cases. This urging came from the agency’s top official, John Morton. News reports state that during the first three years of the Obama administration, deportations have been at record levels, with the Department of Homeland Security claiming 396,906 deportations during the 2011 fiscal year. Discretion would enable judges to stop deportation proceedings against people arrested for minor offenses, for those engaged in labor and civil-rights disputes and for other reasons.

For 32 immigrant workers in the New Orleans area, this discretion is very relevant. The group, nicknamed “The Southern 32,” are all facing deportation proceedings in spite of the fact that they were arrested while trying enforce their rights on the job. Their complaints include non-payment of wages and racial discrimination.

Delmy Palencia is one of The Southern 32. She took the mic in hand, and with her son seated in a stroller next to her, spoke to the crowd about about the one provision of SB 1070 that the Supreme Court upheld, which allows law enforcement to ask for confirmation of legal immigration status. “We know that there’s no way for them to do this without racial profiling,” Palencia said through an interpreter. “We’re in the struggle. We’re not going to stop,” Palencia continued, adding “we’re asking President Obama and the Secretary to stop the deportations.”

Members of the Congress of Day Laborers, which has been supporting the Southern 32, participated in the rally along with representatives from a range of community organizations and individuals including the American Civil Liberties Union, Puentes, and State Representative Wesley Bishop.

One woman who came to the rally as an individual, Melinda Palacio, a California native who married a New Orleanian, said that she had come because she considered the issue to be extremely important. “When I’m in California…people always ask me about New Orleans, and I tell them that it’s really come back, and it’s really thanks to the hard work of immigrants.”

According to Marjorie Essman, executive director of the Ameri­can Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, the Supreme Court’s ruling on SB 1070 was “putting law enforcement on notice” that the Court will not tolerate racial profiling. “We are here to let the people of Louisiana know that they have the right to be free of racial profiling,” Essman told The Louisiana Weekly, underlining that her organization would take legal action if necessary to protect this right.

This article was originally published in the July 2, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper