A few days ago, the Los Angeles protesters posted a list of “grievances not addressed” that ranged from a moratorium on foreclosures to seeking a better public transit system to student debt relief, and this request:
Los Angeles to be declared a sanctuary city for the undocumented, deportations to be discontinued and cooperation with immigration authorities be ended – including the turning in of arrestees’ names to immigration authorities.
It’s a tall order in Los Angeles County, which has long had a partnership with the federal government that allows for jail inmates to be turned over to immigration officials. The city is already criticized by immigration restriction advocates as being a so-called “sanctuary city” for its Special Order 40, which bars Los Angeles police from inquiring about immigration status.
Still, it’s indicative of Los Angeles’ Occupy movement. Since the beginning, Occupy protests in other cities (including in New York, where Occupy Wall Street got the ball rolling) have been accused of being too white, with little black or Latino participation despite these groups having been hit hardest by the economic crisis that spurred the protests in the first place.
This hasn’t been the case so much in California, though, where Latinos have been involved in the protests since the start, among them immigrant rights activists and supporters. While the protesters’ grievances continue to revolve around the role of banks and other corporate entities in the economic crisis, immigration has made its way onto the list. Earlier this month, Occupy protesters in Oakland embarked on a campaign to free Francisco “Pancho” Ramos-Stierle, a former graduate student who was placed on a deportation hold after his arrest during a rally. And on Saturday, about 300 Occupy San Francisco protesters held an immigrant rights march.
Other groups have held Occupy-related immigration protests as well, including an Occupy ICE group in San Diego organized by the local janitors’ union and an Occupy Birmingham protest today in Alabama, with protesters picketing an immigrant detention center.
Chief Deputy City Atty. William Carter said he expects more protesters to be criminally charged, particularly those with criminal records. The length of protesters' jail stays was not unusual, he said.
"It's an unfortunate fact of life in this country," he said. "Perhaps this will sensitize people to what it means to get arrested."
But Carol Sobel, an attorney who has advised the protesters, said: "They're being punished for being a part of Occupy L.A."
Most of those arrested ultimately will qualify for the diversion program and will not face charges, she predicted. The arrestees face potential charges of failure to disperse and, in a few cases, resisting arrest. They faced a minimum bail of $5,000. About 40 had been bailed out Thursday.
The arrest records show that the median age of the group is 26, and men outnumber women nearly 3-to-1. Forty-eight are not old enough to legally drink alcohol. The oldest, 79-year-old Dorothy Sarnoff of Highland Park, turned 21 during the Eisenhower administration.
Most were local, although 20 arrestees told police they live outside the state, listing hometowns as far away as Roopville, Ga., and Ithaca, N.Y.
No occupation was reported for about 100 arrestees. Others listed varied jobs, including actor, architect, barista, pizza deliveryman, poet and taxi driver.
Twenty-eight-year-old Christopher French was among them. He was taken into custody for remaining in City Hall park even after police issued a dispersal order early Wednesday. He was holding a white rose in his hand — a scene captured by several photographers.
French said he was released from jail after a sympathetic bail commissioner reduced his bail. He has been given a Jan. 5 trial date. He complained about the way protesters were treated after they were arrested, saying he and others were kept in plastic handcuffs for seven hours.
In the days since their eviction, protesters have collected money for a bail fund. At least one protester, 35-year-old Tyson Header, was charged with battery and assault on a peace officer after he allegedly spit on an officer during his arrest, according to records.
City Atty. Carmen Trutanich has complained in the past about "career protesters," whose actions he says drain city resources and disrupt the lives of average citizens.
Trutanich, who may run for county district attorney, has said his office does not prosecute protesters' for the content of their demonstration, only their conduct.
Carter, the chief deputy city attorney, said Thursday that even though many city officials embraced the message of Occupy L.A., the city had not suspended a ban on overnight camping on City Hall grounds.
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