'Our community is under attack': Faithful at Arizona Capitol decry 'anti-immigrant' bills

Jose R. Gonzalez, Arizona Republic
Updated ·3 min read
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Although the sun shone brightly on an interfaith prayer circle outside the Arizona Capitol, Senate Bill 1070 cast a long shadow.

Alfonso Vasquez was among a little over 30 people who gathered to decry legislation they claim unjustly targets immigrants. SB 1070 struck fear among immigrants when then-Gov. Jan Brewer signed it into law in April 2010. Vasquez recalls being a high schooler and witnessing many immigrants he knew forced to leave Arizona due to SB 1070.

As an advocate who works with Neighborhood Ministries, Vasquez highlighted that many individuals in his central Phoenix community are unsettled by the recent passage of two bills in this session targeting undocumented immigrants.

An interfaith gathering on Feb. 27, 2024 is seen outside the Arizona Capitol in a prayer circle in response to legislation aimed at unauthorized immigration.
An interfaith gathering on Feb. 27, 2024 is seen outside the Arizona Capitol in a prayer circle in response to legislation aimed at unauthorized immigration.

SB 1070 made unauthorized immigration and the failure to carry immigrant documentation criminal offenses in the state, granting police the authority to detain anyone suspected of being undocumented. Presently, Senate Bill 1231 and House bills 2821 and 2748 propose criminalizing the entry of undocumented immigrants outside lawful ports of entry at the southern Arizona border, empowering local judges to adjudicate immigration cases.

"(This is) just a reminder of 'OK, our community is under attack,'" said Vasquez, who does community outreach for the Phoenix-based Christian advocacy group Neighborhood Ministries. "The trauma of SB 1070 is still present in our community. So, anything that is connected to SB 1070 is just a reminder of pain and suffering in those early days."

A graduate of Carl T. Hayden Community High School, 32-year-old Vasquez immigrated from Guanajuato, Mexico, to the U.S. as a young child in 1996. He and his wife are Dreamers, benefiting from temporary protection from deportation and the ability to legally work in the U.S. through former President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) act.

Those in attendance held handmade signs reading, "BELOVED COMMUNITY ¡SI! HCR 2060 ¡NO!" and "DIGNITY FOR ALL."

In a corner of the prayer circle, Muslim missionary Ahmad Salman prayed while a flock of migrating birds flew across the front of the Capitol, occasionally perching atop the building.

"We live in a country that is built upon the shoulders of migrants who came and built this nation. Each one of us is a testament of the diversity, peace, justice and liberty that we enjoy," he said. "Our faith requires us to accept the weak, the oppressed, the tired and the hungry to build an even better nation than before."

Alicia Contreras, executive director of the Valley-based grassroots organization Corazón Arizona, highlighted the confluence of different faiths to call out the bills as racist and anti-immigrant. The 40-year-old Contreras remembers a similar prayer gathering in April 2010 at the Capitol.

"We were born out of the baptizing (by fire) ... out of the flames of (former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe) Arpaio and anti-immigrant bills and SB 1070," she said. "I have so much hope, and I know that we're not, that Arizonans do not want to go back to what happened in 2010."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Interfaith group decries 'anti-immigrant' bills at Arizona Capitol