Protests Against Wells Fargo and Sheriff Arpaio
Bay Area Community Groups to Call on Wells Fargo Bank to Evict Racist Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio from WFB Offices in Phoenix, AZ
What: Press conference and picket line to report results of community meeting with representatives of Wells Fargo Bank Corporate Headquarters on national demand to evict Maricopa County Offices and Sheriff Joe Arpaio from Wells Fargo property in Phoenix, AZ.
When: Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. PST
Where: In front of the Wells Fargo Bank at 130 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA
Who: Representatives from the
• Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition
• Black Alliance for Just Immigration
• National Day Laborer Organizing Network
• National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
• San Francisco Day Labor Program
• San Francisco Living Wage Coalition
• Young Workers’ United
• And others
Why: Representatives of Bay Area day laborer, community and immigrant rights groups will call on the Wells Fargo Bank to stop leasing offices to Maricopa County Offices, where the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio sits, in Arizona. Wells Fargo Bank financially benefits from its lease to Maricopa County, contributing to the state of siege and mass rights violations perpetuated against Latino and migrant communities by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
As part of a national campaign organized by Arizona Latino, day laborer and other community groups with PUENTE and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Bay Area groups are demanding that Wells Fargo evict Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio from Wells Fargo property in Phoenix. Arpaio is carrying out unlawful sweeps and arrests against Latinos in Phoenix and the surrounding county area and harassing, detaining and deporting day laborers. Using illegal racial profiling, Arpaio indiscriminately carries out mass detentions and arrests of Latino citizens and non-citizens. Arpaio also charges migrants with “co-conspiring” to be smuggled into the state under an Arizona state law that makes it a felony to be undocumented in the state.
Contact:
Rene Saucedo, renee@lrcl.org, or (415) 553-3404
Arnoldo Garcia, agarcia@nnirr.org or (510) 465-1984 ext. 305
For background Information on this campaign, visit:
Puente and Macehualli Day Laborer Program in Phoenix http://puenteaz.org/
National Day Laborer Organizing Network http://www.ndlon.org/
From PUENTE:
PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATIONS IN DOWNTOWN PHOENIX
For three consecutive weeks, members of PUENTE and individuals from the community have been peacefully demonstrating in front of the Wells Fargo tower on 100 W. Washington. Since September 2, our goal is to create awareness about the financial benefit the banking corporation is receiving from Maricopa County by leasing thousands of square-feet in office space to the Maricopa County Sheriff Office. We are asking Wells Fargo -a financial institution reaching out to thousands of Latino families- to not renew the County’s lease and to evict the sheriff and his staff from their luxurious facilities. In doing so, Wells Fargo won’t be associated with Sheriff Arpaio and his blatant violations to human and civil rights. We are exercising the freedom of speech and assembly granted by the U.S. and Arizona Constitution by meeting
Monday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m [in Phoenix].
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