About 25 demonstrators gathered in front of Chula Vista City Hall on Tuesday to ask the council to formally denounce a law recently passed by the Arizona legislature. The rally was followed by a long list of speakers at Tuesday’s City Council meeting who urged officials to move forward on a resolution, expected to come forward in the next few weeks.
Alex Fernandez addressed the council during the public comment period, and related a story about his 67-year-old grandmother and her problems at a border checkpoint.
“They said she would be deported because she didn’t have papers,” said Fernandez, despite his grandmother’s having lived in the U.S. for 64 years. Fernandez said Arizona’s new law was an example of a policy that “tears families apart” and urged the council to pass a resolution denouncing it.
Arizona’s new law requires law enforcement officers to take steps to verify an individual’s immigration status when a “reasonable suspicion” exists that the person may be in the country illegally. Critics say the law would open the door to racial profiling and a number of cities, including San Diego, have passed resolutions condemning it. The topic was broached at a council meeting earlier this month and elected officials indicated they may support a similar resolution that passed in San Diego.
Local pastor Dr. Richard Freeman, who said he himself was the son of immigrants, appealed to the council with scripture and also urged the passage of a resolution.
“For God there is no such thing as an illegal human being,” said Freeman.
