PORT ANGELES — A small but earnest crowd of about 10 people demonstrated outside the Richard B. Anderson Federal Building on Saturday for workers’ rights and against a new immigration law in Arizona that sparked much larger protests the same day across the nation.
Organized by the Stop the Checkpoints Committee, the demonstration — which drew people from acorss the North Olympic Peninsula — was a means of marking International Workers’ Day and bring attention to the controversial bill, said Lois Danks, group coordinator.
“Part of our thing is, we are all workers on both sides of the borders,” said the Port Angeles resident. “And we should all have workers’ rights.”
Arizona’s new immigration law requires authorities to question people about their immigration status if there’s reason to suspect they’re in the country illegally.
The demonstrators, who received some frequent honks of support from people driving by, said the law will lead to Hispanics who are citizens or legal immigrants being detained if they don’t have documentation to prove their legal status on them when approached by police.
They also said it could lead to everyone being asked about their citizenship in order to avoid the appearance of racial profiling.
“It’s going to hit everybody,” said Tim Wheeler, who was holding a sign that said “Boycott Arizona.”
The 70-year-old Sequim resident said that choosing to boycott the state wasn’t easy for him since he typically goes there every other year to visit friends.
“It’s a very beautiful state,” Wheeler said.
“But I’m not going if they [don’t repeal] this law.”
Supporters of the law have said that it is necessary because the federal government has failed to stop illegal immigration.
The demonstrators said international free trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement — or NAFTA — are the problem, not border security.
“They’re making the economy of Mexico a branch of American corporations,” Danks said.
The Stop the Checkpoints Committee formed in 2008 in response to highway checkpoints on the North Olympic Peninsula carried out by the Border Patrol.
The Border Patrol, which operates out of the federal building, used them to find illegal immigrants.
Danks said she is concerned that the checkpoints that occurred on the Peninsula would be a “small piece” of what law enforcement could do in Arizona under the new law.
The last checkpoint on the Peninsula was on Sept. 9, 2008, but agents occasionally board privately owned Port Angeles-based Olympic Bus Lines, primarily at the Discovery Bay stop on U.S. Highway 101, to ask passengers about their citizenship.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.