Illegal immigrants arrested at protest identified; 12 remain jailed

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- The 13 protesters arrested yesterday after a  demonstration outside legislative headquarters have been identified on a website by their supporters, who have now set up a fund to help bail them out of jail.

None is from Alabama. Twelve remained jailed at midday.

A Dream Activist website blog post lists the group arrested after several hours of protesting the Alabama immigration law.  All publicly declared their undocumented status yesterday in defiance of HB 56, which is considered to be the harshest anti-immigrant bill in the country. 

The following names were listed on the Dream Activist website but have not been confirmed by police:

Martin Unzueta, 55, of Chicago; Belen Rebelledo, 39, of Detroit; Alma Diaz, 30, of Ohio; Jaime Guzman, 25, of Oregon; Catalina Rios, 19, of Detroit; Ernesto Zumaya, 25, of Los Angeles; Myasha Arellano, 18, of San Fernando Valley, Calif.; Krsna Avila, 23, of Oakland, Calif.; Fernanda Marroquin, 22, of Philadelphia; Cesar Marroquin, 21, of Philadelphia; and Cynthia Perez, 27, of Indianapolis, IN.

The 13 were arrested after a delegation from the larger group delivered a letter to the office of Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale. They waited for a response for three hours inside and outside of the State House, a crowd of approximately 200.

At 4:15 p.m., 11 of the 13 were arrested after an hourlong sit-in that blocked traffic in front of the State House on the corner of South Union and Washington Streets, sitting on a mat that read, "we will no longer stand in the shadows." All 11 were taken into police custody without incident and transported to the city jail on disorderly conduct charges. They were handcuffed by police using plastic yellow cuffs and loaded into a yellow Department of Public Safety school bus after they were given several warnings in both Spanish and English to vacate the street or be taken into police custody.

Two protesters who sat inside the State House waiting for Beason, sponsor of HB65, to respond to their letter, were incarcerated shortly after the building closed at 5:30 p.m. 

Dream Activist spokesman Mohammad Abdollahi confirmed that since the arrests one person, said to be a minor, has since been released. Abdollahi also said that Montgomery attorney Mike Winters, has agreed defend the 12 still in custody without charge.

 Alabama Representative Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, has said that he plans to post bond for the 12 still in custody. 

Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said the decision to arrest the 11 people outside the State House came after police stood on the sidelines as a precautionary measure for hours. 

"When you are blocking a street and we're fixing to get into rush hour (traffic), we felt like it would not be in our community's interest (for them) to be occupying (the street)," Strange said. "Plus, at some point in time, how can you condone civil disobedience?"

30-year-old Alma Diaz said in a video on the Dream Activist site she knew she stood a chance of being arrested. “What has hiding in the shadows gotten us? We must fight back; it is the only way to end the pain we see in our communities," she said.
Many of the 13 people arrested were interviewed prior to the protest by Dream Activist in a series of videos that were posted on YouTube titled "If you are reading watching this, I've been arrested in Alabama.