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In late July 1997, police officers fanned out across the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Ariz., searching for illegal immigrants. Working side by side with Border Patrol agents, police demanded proof of citizenship from children walking home from school, grandmothers shopping at the market and employees driving to work.

    At the end of what became known as the Chandler Roundup, 432 illegal immigrants had been arrested and deported. But during those five days, local police and federal officers also detained dozens of U.S. citizens and legal residents – often stopping them because they spoke Spanish or looked Mexican. The state attorney general later determined that authorities had engaged in racial profiling and violated the rights of residents.

    Now, as Arizona prepares to enact SB 1070, the controversial new immigration law, many of Chandler's Latino residents say they are reminded of those terrifying days – and fearful of a repeat of the past. “SB 1070 just brought home the point: If you are Hispanic or Mexican, you are just not wanted in Arizona,” said Joe Garcia, 65, a U.S. citizen who owned a video store in downtown Chandler and helped form a civil rights coalition to demand answers after the roundup.

    Garcia, a retired Mesa police lieutenant, and his wife, Rosalia, said they were still disappointed and angry about the way officers behaved during the roundup. Rosalia remembered customers fleeing into the video shop and police officers on bicycles arbitrarily stopping people. “They were literally sweeping, coming through the sidewalks until finally the streets were empty. If you were Hispanic, you were a target,” Joe Garcia said. “Especially if you had a dark complexion.”

    Though not well-known outside Arizona, the Chandler Roundup wasn't unique. Throughout U.S. history, raids conducted by local police and federal immigration agents have resulted in the deportation of U.S. citizens, according to Francisco Balderrama, a Chicano studies professor at Cal State Los Angeles. Balderrama said that history accounts for some of the unease in the Latino community about SB 1070. “It underscores the situation that your skin color and your surname are used as ways of measuring if you are American or not,” he said.

    Mayor Boyd Dunn, who was on the City Council at the time, said in an interview that “mistakes were made” and that officers engaged in racial profiling. But he said the department has since conducted extensive officer training and outreach to the Latino community.

Chandler authorities, who conducted the sweeps as part of a plan to revitalize the city, settled the lawsuit with 29 plaintiffs for $400,000 and pledged to not let it happen again. And in 1999, the City Council adopted a policy saying police could only ask about the immigration status of people arrested on suspicion of felonies and certain misdemeanors.

    The new law, which takes effect July 29, during the 13^th anniversary of the sweeps, requires police to determine the immigration status of anyone they stop for another lawful reason and suspect is in the country illegally. It also makes it a state crime to lack proper immigration papers. Gov. Jan Brewer has said that racial profiling will not be tolerated under the law, which is supported by a majority of Arizona residents.

 

 

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