Civil rights and immigration advocates were angered by the Supreme Court's ruling Monday that Arizona can require police to check the immigration status of those they stop.
The ruling, said speakers, will lead to racial profiling of Hispanics and create fear for illegal immigrants in Tucson.
Some 50 people joined speakers at an afternoon news conference at the downtown state building on West Congress Street and North Granada Avenue.
"We will continue to work to repeal SB 1070 because it is an unjust law," said Alison Harrington, pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church on Tucson's south side.
"This law promotes fear among our community where people are scared to go to the grocery store, church and hospitals.
"Our doors and our hearts are open to you. We will serve the people of this community regardless of their immigration status," said Harrington, who ministers at a church that was in the forefront of the nationwide underground Sanctuary Movement for Central Americans in the 1980s.
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Alma Hernandez, 28, said she understands the fear undocumented immigrants feel.
"I am a mother of three children, and I am fighting deportation so I can stay home with my family," explained Hernandez who has lived in Tucson as an illegal immigrant since she was 8 years old.
"My parents moved our family here from Guadalajara for a better life. Tucson is my home. I know no other one," said Hernandez, who is seeking a cancellation of deportation under President Obama's recent executive order allowing those brought to the United States illegally as children to remain under certain conditions.
Hernandez said on June 2010 a Pima County sheriff's deputy pulled her over while she was driving. She said she was not cited for a traffic violation. Rather the deputy called Border Patrol agents when she could not prove legal residency.
She said she was locked up in detention centers for three weeks.
Hernandez said she now is a member of Corazón de Tucson, or Heart of Tucson, an advocacy group that educates members about their civil rights and state and federal laws.
Pima County Supervisor Richard ElÃas, said the "Supreme Court codified the portion of SB 1070 that attacks people's civil liberties and human rights.
"... racial profiling is inevitable if the provisions of SB 1070 approved today by the court are enacted."
ElÃas said he will call for community forums so that Sheriff Clarence Dupnik and Tucson police Chief Roberto Villaseñor, or their administrators, can discuss what actions will be taken by local law enforcement to comply with the ruling.
Tucson City Councilwoman Regina Romero agreed with ElÃas about the forums. She said she will call today for open discussion with the city attorney and police chief about the law's enforcement and its effects.
"I fear that the immigrant population will no longer report crime, and they will distrust police," said Romero. "All the inroads made in the past will be erased. This worries me."
Contact reporter Carmen Duarte at 573-4104 or cduarte@azstarnet.com
