Anti-Arpaio march reignites pro-immigrant movement

Over 20,000 people marched in the streets of Phoenix Saturday in the first mass mobilization of the year, calling for an end to the criminalization of undocumented immigrants and the passage of immigration reform legislation. Arizona is considered ground zero for the immigration debate due to its severe anti-immigrant policies and the controversial figure of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose deputies conduct frequent immigration sweeps in Latino neighborhoods. "We're not going to allow him to continue to abuse us and treat us as if we were criminals, when we're workers," said Salvador Reza, an organizer for PUENTE, the movement behind the march. "The message is clear for the [Barack] Obama administration: You need to put a stop to Sheriff Joe Arpaio's circus." The largest march to protest Arpaio's criminalization of immigrants in the history of Arizona came on the heels of a grand jury criminal investigation led by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that is focusing on abuse of power by his office.