America’s Next Cesar Chavez Versus America’s Toughest Sheriff?!

Yesterday, we blogged about “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona.  Now, NPR tells us about another Arizona citizen but with a  radically different perspective on immigration and immigrants.

Salvador Reza, a U.S. Air Force veteran, has spent years organizing day laborers and small-business owners and, for years, has run the only sanctioned day labor center in Phoenix. Reza believes that all immigrants who want to work should be welcomed with full labor rights. Reza has been called a defender of the people — and also a criminal traitor. One critic, not surprisingly, is Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Former Arizona legislator Alfredo Gutierrez compares Reza to the legendary labor organizer Cesar Chavez. “He is one authentic voice who can move, mobilize our community,” Gutierrez says. Reza has gained local notice by mobilizing regular demonstrations against Arpaio’s continuing crackdown on illegal immigrants.

KJ