Group arrested after rally at Governor's mansion
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Six demonstrators were arrested for blocking traffic after protesters chained themselves together in front of the North Carolina Governor's mansion Thursday.
It came after Pat McCrory signed HB318 into law the day before. The new law prevents local municipalities from adopting "sanctuary city" policies and protecting undocumented workers.
"The immigrant community is waking up," said Carmen Rodriguez, one of the protesters who was chained together, in a statement put out by the group Southeast Immigrant Rights Network - or SEIRN.
Rodriguez said she is an undocumented mother of three US Citizen children who has lived and worked in Raleigh for over ten years. "We are losing our fear to raise our voices and confront this racism, face to face," she said.
The six protesters chained together in the street unfurled a banner that read "stop the hate we make America great". They were joined by about 100 protesters on a nearby sidewalk.
Police used power tools to cut the protesters apart before arresting them.
Taken into custody were 24-year-old Ivanna Cristina Gonzalez, 32-year-old Martha Iliana Santillan-Carril, 30-year-old Maria Carmen Rodriguez, 28-year-old Nayely Irais Perez-Huerta, 47-year-old David Salazar-Montalvo, and 37-year-old Angeline Marie Echeverria. They are charged with resisting a public officer.
McCrory sat down with ABC11's Jon Camp before Thursday's planned rally and said he definitely doesn't see HB318 as a discriminatory bill, as many critics do, and basically said the bill will make people safer.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH HIS INTERVIEW
He reiterated that law enforcement should enforce all the laws, including immigration laws - some cities and towns are friendlier to undocumented immigrants than others, adopting so-called "sanctuary" policies.
The new law says that has to stop, and directs local law enforcement to work with federal immigration officials.
It's not hard to understand why many see the bill as unfriendly to undocumented immigrants, their families and communities, but the governor said it's about more than that.
"My goal is to try to prevent a crime, not to react to crimes after they occur," McCrory said. "Once you react to the crime you waited too long. My goal is to prevent those crimes from occurring and that's exactly what my role is as governor, is prevent the crime not to react to the crime and that's what are the reasons I should probably sign this bill."
Six demonstrators, arrested for blocking traffic in front of the governor's mansion have been released from jail.
Protestors say they will continue to fight a controversial new law.
