Eight UCSB students and a professor were arrested in downtown Santa Barbara on May 27th for staging a peaceful protest of anti-immigration policies.
Nearly 200 protesters — made up of local students, professors and community members — gathered at the intersection of Anacapa and Anapamu streets at noon, remaining there for over an hour-and-a-half in protest of Arizona state law SB1070 and other anti-immigration policies. According to onlookers, eight of the protesters were arrested for civil disobedience after refusing to leave the intersection for nearly an hour.
Among other demands, ralliers called for the Santa Barbara City Council to cut all business ties with Arizona-based companies and declare the city a sanctuary for immigrants.
Nayra Pacheco, a second-year history of public policy and environmental studies major, attended the rally as an activist campaigning for immigrant rights.
“We definitely wanted to send a message to the city council that we want Arizona to be boycotted,” Pacheco said. “A lot of concerned students, professors and community members staged a gathering, a rally against the Arizona law because of the racial profiling policies we feel it evoked.”
According to Pacheco, the majority of activists hailed from UCSB’s student body. Furthermore, she said, protesters and police remained calm throughout the protests, despite the arrests.
“I just want to emphasize that, just like the arrests, everything was peaceful, everything was very collaborative. It turned out to be a very productive rally,” Pacheco said.
I came across a good debating resource that allows you to post comments and cast votes either for or against the New Immigration Law of Arizona without prior registration. I really recommend it: http://www.civiltalks.com
As a UCSB alumnus that worked on housing and living wage issues as a student activist, I am proud of you all and am glad to see faculty support. I was always struck by how tenants and workers who were immigrants were bullied and intimidated by bosses and landlords into not complaining and demanding their rights for fear of deportation or harassment. That hurts everyone because it makes the bosses and landlords more confident in denying the rest of us our rights and gives them that little racist swagger that makes you want to vomit.
Do you really want our country to become overpopulated by opening our borders?
Plus, is this even right towards those who busted their asses to come here legally?
LOSERS AND HYPOCRITES IS WHAT THE PROTESTORS ARE FOR DO YOU SEE ANY OF THEM OFFERING THEIR HOMES AND MONEY TO THE ILLEGALS WHO ARE NOT THEIR RELATIVES…THE ANSWER IS NO OF COURSE
Like Brian, I am an alumna (and current professor at CSULA) who applauds the actions taken by students and faculty to protest the draconian SB 1070 Arizona law. Let us recall Martin Luther King’s words in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” He wrote: “One may well ask: ‘How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?’ The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one… Read more »
“Eight UCSB students and a professor were arrested in downtown Santa Barbara yesterday for staging a peaceful protest of anti-immigration policies.”
Actually, they were arrested for blocking the street. This sure was some lazy ass, shitty reporting. And Editing.