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TENSIONS STILL PRESENT EIGHTEEN MONTHS AFTER WIDESPREAD ALIEN ROUNDUP IN ARIZONA
In July 1997 we reported that the police department of Chandler, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, conducted a five-day roundup of what they hoped would be undocumented aliens. The only problem with the plan was the basis upon which people were stopped - their appearance. In stopping people that "looked Mexican" the police targeted many U.S. citizens and people legally in the country. The arguments that began that summer have preoccupied the city since.
Last month, the Chandler City Manager officially reprimanded the city's police chief for his conducting of the operation, and community activists have initiated a campaign for a recall vote against the mayor and two city council members. Some of those wrongfully stopped have filed a $ 35 million civil rights action in Federal court against the city. Opening arguments in this case are set for February 1999. Others have filed an $ 8.7 million suit in state court.
The investigation conducted by the Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods concluded that suspects were stopped for no reason other than their skin color, and that the city's action was in violation of a 1996 immigration law that requires cities to get permission from the U.S. Attorney General before taking such action. The city's own report criticized the police for their lack of preparation and training to enforce immigration laws. The Arizona Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has scheduled an investigation of the incident.
The views of the community still diverge when it comes to the raid. Dave Bigos, spokesman for the city, says "sure, we [angered] a large segment of the Hispanics in the downtown area. . . . But the majority of people are going about their jobs, and it really hasn't touched their lives." Ed Delci, one of the plaintiffs in the federal civil rights action, disagrees. "It's going to take 10, 15 years for people to feel comfortable in Chandler again."