Arizona immigration law protested at Florida

The growing national protests against the controversial new Arizona immigration control law came to Miami Gardens on Monday night.South Florida immigrant rights activists rallied at Sun Life Stadium, holding up protest signs prior to the game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Florida Marlins.More than 50 protesters gathered at the stadium at 5 p.m., waving signs and chanting slogans as spectators drove into the parking lot.

“No to racism!” the protesters screamed. “No to discrimination.”Their signs read “Strike Out SB1070” on one side and “Go Marlins” on the other.SB1070 refers to the legislative number of the Arizona law.One demonstrator in favor of the Arizona law, Mark Kleiman, of Hollywood, also held a sign reading “Go Marlins” and “Protect the Border.”

OTHER ACTIONS

The stadium protest capped a day of actions and events by immigrant rights activists opposing the Arizona law that empowers police officers to question a person on his or her immigration status and file criminal charges if the person is not legally in the country.Perhaps the most significant action Monday was a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of civil rights groups challenging the constitutionality of Arizona’s law.

The groups branded the new law “extreme” because it “invites the racial profiling of people of color, violates the First Amendment and interferes with federal law.”Lucas Guttentag, director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, said the law has tarnished Arizona’s image.

`SHAMEFUL’

“It’s a shameful and un-American law,” Guttentag said in a telephone news conference.“It turns `show me your papers’ into the Arizona state motto.”

Meanwhile, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People which joined in the lawsuit, said in a statement that it will not host any events in Arizona and urged Major League Baseball to move the 2011 All-Star Game elsewhere.And on Tuesday, the Washington-based group Fair Immigration Reform Movement or FAIR plans to announce an a campaign of civil disobedience to pressure the Obama administration into championing immigration reform.

NATIONAL DEBATE

The Arizona law, signed by Gov. Jan. Brewer on April 23, has reignited the immigration reform debate, which previously focused on whether to legalize an estimated 10.8 million undocumented immigrants.Monday’s protest was part of a broader movement aimed at persuading Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to move the 2011 All-Star Game from its currently scheduled location in Phoenix — if the Arizona immigration law is not withdrawn or modified.

Federal officials will not pursue civil rights violations or other charges against the boot camp guards implicated in the death of a 14-year-old

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Federal officials will not pursue civil rights violations or other charges against the boot camp guards implicated in the death of a 14-year-old who was hit and kicked by the guards while a nurse looked on, the boy’s relatives and their attorney said Friday.Ben Crump, an attorney for the parents of the teen, Martin Lee Anderson, said they were told of the decision during a meeting with representatives of the U.S. Justice Department. The family’s supporters gathered outside the federal courthouse in Tallahassee during that meeting.

Anderson died Jan. 6, 2006, a day after being hit and kicked by the guards. A videotape of the 30-minute incident attracted national attention and led to the closure of Florida’s boot camps for juvenile offenders. Anderson had just been assigned to the camp after he was caught trespassing at a school, which violated his probation on another charge.
A state court jury acquitted the guards and the nurse of manslaughter on Oct. 12, 2007. Federal authorities then began investigating whether the boy’s civil rights were violated.

The Justice Department said in a news release Friday that investigators did not have enough evidence to pursue criminal charges.

The video showed the seven men punching Anderson and using knee strikes against him. It also showed them pushing ammonia capsules into his nose and dragging his limp body around the camp’s yard. The nurse did not appear to intervene in any way during the incident.A coroner initially ruled that Anderson died because of a fatal hemorrhage related to a previously undiagnosed case of sickle cell anemia trait. Protests of that ruling inspired then-Gov. Jeb Bush to order an independent prosecutor to look into the case.

A subsequent autopsy determined that guards killed Anderson by depriving him of oxygen when they pushed the ammonia tablets into his nose and covered his mouth.

The acquittal in the state’s manslaughter case came after a two-week trial in Panama City. Jurors said they agreed with the contention of the guards’ attorneys that the men were employing widely accepted boot camp tactics and that the death was caused by the sickle cell trait.The family also filed civil lawsuits against the state and Bay County that ultimately resulted in a $7.4 million settlement. (AP)