We have an amazing panel. We will start out today with a small video. It is important to show the video because it showcases one of our own panelists and sheds a little bit of light into our world. Youll be able to see a little bit. There are some clips of the chain gangs, jails, and what he has done to our community. And the filmmaker is in the room and the fulllength film will be showing tomorrow at 9 00 a. M. In room 223 and catherine will be there as well. I want to invite everyone there. You should see the full film and join them tomorrow. We will go ahead and get started and it is about a fiveminute clip for the movie. Breaking news coming to us right now. The Sheriffs Office is executing a search warrant. 25 different employees all possibly could be illegal immigrants. This is investigated by the Sheriffs Office for employers violations. Mr. Arpaio i know how to solve the problem. Why do i get all of the heat because someone does something wrong and i use the word punishment, which no one else will use . Why should they not be punished . [crying] she is catherine figeroa, the phoenix girl whose plea to the president is being seen around the world on youtube. They were not born here and they say that is against the law. [speaking spanish] carwash what house is this . Catherine my aunts are you staying with her . Catherine no, just yesterday. Today, i think i am going with my other aunt. There is only one reason it is you. 90 years old. I will vote as long as i am here. Can i be the sheriff at 90 . Most older people are afraid of children and afraid of people who dont obey the law because those people are nasty. They have to be punished. President obama this year, immigration has become a source of fresh contention in our country with the passage of a controversial law in arizona and Immediate Reaction we have seen across america. 20 other states are considering similar legislation. This law does not fix the immigration problem. Mr. Arpaio law or no law, we will still do our crime suppression operation and continue enforcing illegal immigration laws. We are at 35 tonight. Now they are going to go to jail. We are scared to go out. If they have to hide, i have to hide. [speaking spanish] today, you will hear testimony on how it affects children, communities, and families. I will begin with catherine figeroa. I would like to send a message to arpaio. Mr. Arpaio i am taking a little heat on my crackdown on illegal immigration. The Justice Department launched an investigation. Who do they think they are . This is my hate file. They get pretty nasty. Shows you how volatile this whole situation is. I dont know. Eric holder said there will be some responsibility. Your thoughts . Mr. Arpaio maybe it was not a correct remark to make. I work for my reputation and no one will take that away. Destruction of evidence, financial fraud, abuse of power. This is the most out of control Law Enforcement in america. No one from the mexican on the street to the residing judge of the criminal court is safe. I kept thinking that maybe i would see my parents when i got back home. [speaking spanish] [crying] [speaking spanish] what do we want . Justice when to do we want it . Now no matter how it turns out, i want justice. Period. With our blood, sweat, tears. Get out of my country i dont want anything that happened to me to ever happen again. [applause] carlos welcome, everyone. My name is Carlos Garcia and im the director. What we are going to do today is have a conversation with the six people up here and we will do a series of questions and open it up for questions from people in the room. I also wanted to recognize the parents of catherine who are also in the room. They are here and you saw them in the video and for their fight and continuing to support their daughter. I wanted [applause] we can get start with catherine in asking the question of what it was like. What is it like looking at the video and seeing what happened and in that moment, what was a like to see your parents being arrested on tv . Catherine it was really hard. I felt alone like i was in a completely different world. I knew i had my family members with me but it was not the same. I knew that i had to fight for them to matter what [emotional] how they fought for me. They always wanted a good education for me. They are [emotional] they are everything to me so i knew i had to fight for them. It was really hard. I i was scared i would maybe never see them again. I was scared if the got deported, i would stay here alone and nobody would want me because i wouldnt have any parents. I felt like people werent going to like me. [crying] i was really scared but once i started hearing about things i could do to help my parents, i did them, i fought for them, and i did everything so i could be with them again. [applause] [applause] we are all very proud of you. Carlos thank you for sharing. One of my mentors has been fighting for a long time, fighting the whole time. I want to ask you, why did arpaio do this . Why did he start doing this to our people . Let me take a few seconds to tell you how inspirational for those of you who were not here as this unraveled, this was arpaios first televised worksite raid and what catherine had to go through is to see their own parents taken away. What inspired catherine, she then in turn inspired all of us in the community and i want to recognize her and her parents. She fought to get them out and once they were out, they continued the battle to make sure it doesnt happen ever again. [applause] what inspires arpaio . What makes him who he is . He is a racist pig, etc. , etc. I think there is a certain version, a certain pleasure in what he does. Let me remind you that his first major what he calls crime suppression raids. These are neighborhood raids where he would send hundreds of officers into them and build temporary jails in parking lots the first one was on good friday. It was on good friday and he was aimed precisely at the people who were going to mass and going to church. What we got to witness that day was people dressed well on their way to church or coming from church being walked through all of the media. Remember, this was the first one. All of the media was there local, national, international. They got to watch mexicans being carted. So, part of it is really, it is a personal hatred, a personal perversion, a personal sickness in him. The other part is pure politics. This is arizona, a very fine point of the arrow of hatred towards immigrants, towards mexicans, latinos. He has learned to exploit that. He is, we must concede, perhaps a sick man but a highly talented one at manipulating the media and in sharing his political longevity. Carlos next, victoria lopez formerly on the florence project. Victoria, who was arpaio before he decided to go after the community . Victoria interestingly, i had not caught that clip before. He says i work hard for my reputation. He has been working hard at it for a long time. Certainly, one of the areas he has been the notorious at is violating peoples rights is in the jails. All of you should participate in the action going on tomorrow afternoon in a campaign to try to shut down the city. Building tent city as part of his political strategy to show how he was so willing to go after people and punish people in a really degrading and dehumanizing way. We had been involved in litigation around the jail conditions for over 40 years now. That litigation has been going on longer than i have been alive, challenging the Inadequate Health care, the overall conditions in the jail, documenting people having to be in the tents in oppressive heat. There are people currently dealing with the oppressive conditions. This is something that he continues to use as part of his political platform to gain favor with those who support him, touting how terrible the conditions are, touting having people in the jails wear pink underwear that is an effort to dehumanize people in the community. Not just immigrants, but for people, people facing jail and the criminal justice system. That was clearly part of his political agenda and his political platform was around the conditions in the jails. We saw maybe we could market with the Sheriffs Office entering into an agreement with the federal government. It propelled the conversation about Immigration Enforcement and authorizing local agencies to engage in immigration activities. That was not that was through agreements all over the country. Through that agreement and through that process, i would say it emboldened the share of an agency to begin the dramatic increase in Immigration Enforcement activity in the county. There have been particular moments certainly through what he has done in the jails and the area of Immigration Enforcement that has served as a platform for him for many years. This has been going on for decades. Thank you. Next, ms. Romero. She is working toward her deferred action. What was it like inside the jail . Please speak a little of what your experience was like. Natalie my experience was not the best. [laughter] natalie it was something i never thought i would be living but unfortunately, i had to be in that jail for three months. I remember the ugly striped uniform that smelled horrible. Another thing was i had to share a room with over 125 other girls. We had to share a shower. The food in there just the name sounds horrible. Slop. It is really smelly and it is food that i dont even think a dog would eat. There were times when the slop had worms and they said that was fine and it was just vitamins. There was a time i got my milk and it was rotten and they said i had to drink it that way. Another thing every time i would visit, they would handcuff me to a table. I was not allowed to have contact with my family members. [crying] im sorry. After those two months, i was transferred to the detention center. When i got there, they offered me an application to work. [emotional] i said i would not take it because the reason i was there was because i was working and i didnt think it was fair to go in there and work for them for one dollar a day. Carlos thank you. [applause] carlos next, jose. What was the raid like for you and what was your experience like and can you paint a picture of that experience . What were you thinking when that happened . Jose [speaking spanish] translator thank you for being here. Jose [speaking spanish] translator my name is jose and i was one of the many victims of arpaio. October 18, 2012 was a normal day like any other at my job. I left my home around 4 30 in the morning. I never expected that this would happen to me. I arrived at work and we had to load the trucks with material. All of the sudden, we heard people say the sherriffs arrived. We were completely surrounded. It was probably 6080. We were told to sit on the ground on the dirt, not to move or to try anything. They had us from 5 00 until 9 00 in the morning sitting on the ground. As soon as i saw it was the sheriff, i was scared for my family. I knew the sheriffs were deporting people. I thought i would be deported and never see my family. I didnt know if to call my wife or leave it. I finally called her while no one was looking. And the sheriff saw me and said he would break the phone. I told my wife that arpaio was there and he would take me. We were transferred to 4th avenue jail. They had us overnight and a little of the next day. They transferred me to the jail. I was there for 4. 5 months. It is a terrible, ugly place. I would never wish it on anyone. The food was terrible. There are many times i preferred not to eat at all. Most of the food is rotten. The clothes you had to wear whether they fit or not. The rooms were cold. I am sick. I have a problem with my back. I could not do too much movement. When i got there, i had a top bunk. It was very difficult for me to climb every morning and come down. I asked if i could get the bottom bunk. They said no. I said i was sick and he said he didnt care. I had to sleep wherever he told me. I asked for an appointment with a doctor and it was not until they wanted me to see the doctor until i got it. When it came for the appointment, i told the doctor and he said i needed an actual official form from the officer so that he could give me the bottom bunk. I went with the officer and told him what i had been told and he said i needed a doctors note so he would give me the bottom bed. They were just playing around with me. They are really ugly experiences. [applause] carlos next, the organizing director at puente. Why are these people here . Why arent they deported or why arent they still imprisoned . I am the organizing director at puente. We have been around the past eight years and we came out of a direct response to the contract that sheriff arpaio signed and put into implementation. We were born out of the crisis and a few years back, a big piece of the needs of our Key Community beyond doing the protest and the legal stuff, it was essentially on a casebycase basis. Our people were saying they need support. My family, my husband, my daughter is in detention and we need you to help us get them out. Jose found out about our work inside the jail and called his wife and said to look for us. We have been becoming experts at understanding the legal system, helping families navigate it and fight to get their loved ones out and in the past two years, we have gotten over 150 people out of detention through this level of advocacy and political education and leadership building. [applause] carlos thank you. I want to come back to catherine. If you could expand a little more on the experience of fighting for your parents. We saw in the video you went to d. C. And kept fighting. How do you think this will shape your future or affect the rest of your life . Catherine i went to washington, d. C. To talk to congress. After that, i started going to marches, protests, different events where i could speak to people to make them help me so they could help me get my parents out. I also got involved with puente. They were a big help. They were always there even after my parents were out, they were always supporting us. In the future, i think this will help me because i am going to be a stronger person. Whatever i become in the future, i am going to be strong and have more knowledge of what i am doing to help me and my community, my family. It is something that me and my parents are never going to forget, an experience that will scar us forever, but now i know that we can live in not total peace but 95 peace so we can stay here together and i think in the future, there will be a big difference for everyone. Not just my family, but for everyone in the community. [applause] carlos will you expand a little bit about what arpaio symbolizes and how he has impacted politics. The icon nationally for the antiimmigrant movement, donald trump. There is a legitimate discussion to be had about immigration in this country and about how to proceed forward. There is a legitimate discussion. You cannot have that discussion with people who believe that we are inferior, criminals, rapists, murderers, and believe we are raising our children that way with those values. What arpaio is, is a moral gathering point for the evil that exists in this country. This battle, this clear hate against us he became the beacon for it. As his popularity grew, he gave license to others to speak in that most vile way that he has described us, catherine, catherines family that most vile way. You think about arpaio and all of the institutional evil. He is a beacon of evil for racism. Donald trump is trying to take his place and he is welldressed with 1 billion but we will see whether he has his reserve of hate and people in his gut. It appears he does but that is what we face and that is who arpaio is in this state and country. Carlos victoria, what has the legal battle looked like with arpaio . We always hear he will always almost go down. Victoria i think the litigation has started with immunity in the county. We currently at the aclu have two major lawsuits challenging the activities we have heard about today, the worksite raids and the crime suppression sweeps we heard about. That litigation i think in part, we got to that point where we had to bring this to the court because politically, arpaio had free reign and i think through the court, we have had some major wins, frankly, in stopping worksite raids and ending the crime suppression sweeps and finding Court Findings that arpaio engaged in racial profiling, violated constitutional rights. These have been major victories that have been carried by the community through their experiences and having that affirmed by a court and also having a court order that there be major reforms taking place in the agency itself. I think one of the important things that has come to light out of the litigation is the disrepair the agency has been in as a policing agency in this country and as we look at how Police Conduct themselves across the country. Ncso is an important example of what reform looks like in a police department. Through the racial profiling case, we had an order from the judge ordering training, revision of policy, data collection, body cameras to monitor the activities of a sheriffs deputies, ordering the Sheriffs Office to stop enforcing immigration laws, stop Immigration Enforcement activities. Those have been major wins. They have, to cut there have been people in the Community Forward and testified in hearings, then plaintiffs in these cases and used the courts to be able to end those practices and frankly, it is the beginning of a conversation about what happens next. I can go through the history of the cases. Im sure many of you are following what is happening in the racial profiling case. There are currently content he contempt hearings going on against arpaio for violating court orders. We will be back in court monday despite arpaios efforts. We will see on monday how we will proceed and hopefully the back on track with hearings to address those violations of the court order and what the remedies will be for the community and work from there. That is not really an update on what the litigation look like but if anyone is interested in knowing more specifics about the cases, i am happy to answer those. We have had some major wins in defeating arpaio but the committee has really driven those cases successfully. I want to ask you, you work to fight other peoples cases. If you could talk a bit about what you do and a similar question i had with catherine. How do you see your experience shaping your future . How do you think it will affect your future . I work with puente and im helping people detained like i was fighting their cases. We are not lawyers but we help them because i know there are lot of people that cannot afford to pay a lawyer. I do it because i dont believe in families being separated. I just do it because i dont want anybody suffering the way i suffered. I dont think there should be children without their parents. And that is really why i do it. The way i see this affecting my future in a way it has already affected me. Due to the criminal charge i was left with, im no longer eligible for daca, which was my only hope so i could go to college and get a better job and have a Better Future and help my family. But, for now, those dreams are kind of just going with the flow. But, i am not going to stop fighting for what i believe is right and that is why i joined this lawsuit. I have the faith we will win. [applause] carlos jose, how did you feel when you heard your family was outside fighting for you . It was an emotional video were your children are talking and pushing to get you out. How did you feel when your family was fighting for you . Jose [speaking spanish] translator there is a video made that was very moving to me. Jose [speaking spanish] translator they fought really hard for me and im really proud of my family. They gave me strength to really withstand the time i spent in jail. Very hard to be in jail and have your children outside. They call you and ask where you are. I had to lie to my children the first two months. Because i did not want them to know i was in jail. The first time i spoke to them inside the jail, i said i want went to vegas to work. My youngest son was five years old. He kept asking me when i would be back. I would say i was not sure because i had a lot of work. They would ask me for pictures of where i was. How was i going to send pictures if arpaio took away my phone . I said i will send you a picture. One time, my eldest son asked me when i was returning home. I said i did not know. He said he must have a lot of money because you have working a long time. I said yeah. He said when i came home he had a list of toys he wanted me to buy him. I said ok. I could not lie any longer. So i had to tell my wife to tell the truth. I did not have the courage to tell them. My wife fought for me a lot. She never left me alone. She worked to sustain my children. She paid for the attorney. She paid all of the bills. I am very thankful for her. There was a moment when i told her i would not do anything and i would selfdeport. Because the attorney was taking money and not doing much. She said no. When i would speak to my daughter alejandra, she was a person that gave me a lot of strength. She would tell me that i was there because god believed i was strong. And to fight and not give up. She told me to keep fighting and fighting and not give up. They also told me while i was inside that my father was very sick. I cried because i could not speak with him. I just knew he was a sick and was going to die. Without being able to do much myself. Theyre moments that hurt and will hurt for the rest of my life. [applause] to close the panel, what is next . What did the demands look like . Why are we marching tomorrow . Has anybody here heard there is a big protest happening tomorrow outside the 4th avenue jail . Great. That is good. So come as we have heard from different folks here, a lot of our people have gone through the 4th avenue jail, including myself. It is a terrible place. At this moment, it is a very volatile moment for arpaio. When you have some free time, you can read about why. He is in big trouble in the courts and his ratings are down and at this moment, we can tip the pendulum our way and there have been some small moments where that has been a possibility. He is in big trouble and we want him out. We want his resignation and not only that, but we know with him gone, his entire legacy will not be gone and we have a lot of work to do beyond him leaving. Everything from the terrible conditions in the jails and human right violations to the racist practices on parole to what he has symbolized and the trend he has set for the entire nation and what he represents for a very rabidly racist, conservative base in arizona and across the country. Many of the people who give him money are across the country, not just in arizona. You would be shocked to see how much money people put in to his campaign. We want him to be gone. We want justice for all his victims in terms of people like jose, like catherine and her parents and the thousands of lives he has devastated. We want arpaiofree town. Tomorrow, we will be outside the 4th avenue jail. We are kicking off the campaign. No more ice. When you get arrested and you look like me, you get sent to an ice agent if you dont immediately give them an id. We have heard about the horrors. We will be demanding tomorrow ice out of the jail. To uproot the sickness we have been living with for the past 20 years and we hope you will join us. Thank you. [applause] carlos we have some time for some questions. If you will ask questions, please keep them short and please use the microphone. We probably have time for 3 or 4 questions. Say your name. I have spent some time in the jail and i noticed even manipulating the system as a collegeeducated white girl, i was in there almost a week before i could figure out how to make a phone call. They gave me a handbook on how the jail operations work but at the first opportunity when you go anywhere but a search they search you. The first time i did that, they took all of the things in my pockets and did not give them back. The reason was because they noticed i had been making notes. If i was a spanish speaker, how would i figure this out . I was wondering if you could speak a little bit to that part of the experience where you guys are like double punished by not even being able to understand what is going on there. There is nothing in spanish, no translation. I can imagine it was just hell. You have so much respect from me. I know what it is like in there for me and i saw what it was like for girls like you and it was a lot worse. As bad as that is my situation was, i cannot imagine. You have my mad props. If you can talk about that special discrimination. I have a question about the specifics can everyone hear me . Ok, just making sure. If they took couldnt he have why didnt he get impeached long ago . [laughter] based on the fact how many Human Rights Violations there would have been. That is a human rights violation, probably a couple dozen policies. And then one of the people i cannot remember his name but a very important person chose to not come this year because he was too worried about him and his family getting assaulted by arpaio. Thank you. Great question. [applause] [laughter] my name is kimberly ellis. Yesterday, i went on the borders tour with carlos. It was transformative. I spoke with liz who also went and we have been processing the whole time. We consider ourselves informed and there was so much we did not know. It was very heartbreaking. It is like i cannot move forward in my life without helping to address this situation. I have two questions. The first time i heard about sheriff arpaio in a real and fluid way was with the jodi arias trial. I saw the racism in the jodi arias trial, and when i talked about it on twitter, i was attacked. I have never been attacked like i was when i said i sought a racism here. This is without knowing any of the other aspect. For me, for the people i work with back home, we associated dan brewer being a bad person. I did not make that connection between sheriff arpaio, jodi arias, and how it effectively served to ramp up White Supremacy and imagery, although she is not an undocumented citizen. So my question is, number one, i asked carlos, and he said it was disconnected. I wonder how you process how the jodi arias trial made things worse, or did it help . I dont really know. Number two, i was concerned about issues of solidarity. What is the background relationship here . How is there a discussion about haitian immigration and how they are treated in florida . There needs to be more working together, and there are ways to do that. She said on the stage that people raise money nationally for sheriff arpaio. We experience the same thing. People raised money for Darren Wilson and george zimmerman. But we can raise money nationally for our causes. We have to Work Together to do that. Carlos thank you. Maybe noemi, you said you helped other women. Maybe you could answer the question about what it was like for other women who didnt speak english and what they had to go to navigate the jail. Noemi when i was in there, i actually got to experience, one time, one of the guards, she started yelling at this girl because she had put away her apple for later in the day because we werent going to get any more food after that. She started yelling at her, and started saying, you stupid mexican, you need to get rid of your apple. The girl stood there and looked at her. She had no idea what she was saying. I went up to her, and i was like, she is not understanding you. And she was like, well, why is she here . Why is she in the United States if she doesnt speak our language . I was like, that is none of your business. But i can tell her she needs to get rid of the apple. But you dont need to insult her. She was just like, well, she has been here for a reason. She must be a criminal like everybody else. I was like, look, lady. There is no reason for you to call her a criminal. You dont know the reason why most of the people are in here. And she was just like, well, you are acting up. I will write you up and send you to the hole. And i said, it is not right, the way you are yelling at her. I think they take advantage of us when they see we are mexican or whatever, they are like, they dont speak english. I can insult them and they will not say anything. I saw that many times, and i dont think it is right. They dont understand, they dont know all the bad things they are being told. To them, it is like, oh, i have to do what they say. Or, i remember one girl, she said, [speaking spanish], and i wasnt going to tell her the mean things she was being told. But it is hard for them. They never understood what they were being told. There were times when they wouldnt get their food because they wouldnt hear their number. Thats how bad it was. They didnt know what number. We would go by numbers. We werent being called by names, we were identified by number. Sometimes they would miss their food because they didnt hear when their number was called. So it was hard, not being able to understand. Carlos thank you. Victoria, why does the food stay the way it is . Why arent we changing that . I was on the recall committee, we were wondering that as well. Victoria the issue of Language Access in the jails, it was raised by the department of justice or filed a lawsuit against the Sheriffs Office in 2012. One thing they raised has to do with access to resources, material translation for nonenglish speakers in the jails. But it has been a systemic problem in the jails. Certainly, noemis experience is commonplace. It is awful. Hopefully, we will see that remedied in some way, through the litigation. The question, i mean, i have to say, it is a hard question to answer. The conditions in the jail. Litigation can only get you so far, i think. We have been challenging the conditions in the jails for years. The case is 40 years old. It only gets you so far in terms of how you can change the conditions inside the jail, and what is minimally required to comply with the constitutional standards that you can raise in the litigation. It is not really an answer to the question, but it really is the reality of where you can get with litigation on some of this. We continue to monitor those conditions. We have medical and Mental Health monitors that going to the jails, and review what an cso is doing. We continue to do that. One of the challenges when we are talking about jail and detention litigation is, how to bring some of that information out of the jail, and how to show litigation to the public, making people in the community, making people such as yourselves, aware of what is happening inside the jails. It is a difficult system to penetrate, unless you are in there or you have someone who is in their who is impacted i by the conditions. To be able to speak to the change we want to see in there. Carlos alfredo, if you could talk about why he hasnt been impeached. Or, will, other spectacles we have seen with the jodi arias trial, and ending with the final question about politics in arizona. Alfredo i may be the only person in arizona who did not follow the jodi arias case. I made it a point not to. I cant comment on that. Why hasnt he been impeached . First of all, the term impeached, of course, refers to a process of removing him by other elected officials, in this case the board of supervisors. There is no such procedure available under the arizona constitution. Impeachment was not available. What is in available, there were two other courses of action. One is for the board of supervisors essentially to deny him funding. Because it is through the budget that they can control independently elected officials. They were terrified of him. They were afraid of him. One of the settlements in the doj case is his admission of retaliation. They were afraid of him. That wasnt going to happen. The other factors, the voters. He was, until recently, exceedingly popular in this state and in many parts of the nation. He declared that he was going to feed the bologna, that is, rotten bologna, to prisoners. It was a popular thing, when he closed them in black and white stripes, it was popular. When he started chain gangs, it was popular. When he started the homophobic practice of putting them in pink shorts, he started selling the pink shorts and they sold like wildfire in this county. When he began tent city 20 years ago, it was begun as a temporary facility while a permanent facility was built. It has been there for 20 years. Attracting celebrities of all kinds, you all know about Steven Seagal and other movie stars. A Catholic Bishop of Maricopa County has toured the facility and took his picture with him, and never, never raise the issue, never raised the issue of a concentration camp in the middle of a desert in arizona. It is his popularity, the only way and the ultimate way we are going to remove him is, actually, there are two routes. The most simple and direct is to vote. I have something to say to our people. We have never voted 40 of those who are eligible. I am not sure we could take him out, but we could come close, and we have not done that. The other course of action is the aclu suit. The contempt portion, we might remove him. He will run again. Assuming the devil doesnt call him sooner. He will run again. We will have that opportunity to defeat him. We have to make it real this time. Carlos i want to thank all the panelists. I want to remind you all to please come out and march tomorrow, and please tell others. We will need help. After the keynote speech by elizabeth warren, we will march together. Thank you once again. Next, join Martin Dempsey and ashton carter. A conversation on the latest batch of emails from former secretary of state Hillary Clinton relieved by the state department. After that, a house hearing on aviation security