Protesters rail against immigration bill

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

VALPARAISO — Passing drivers honked in a show of support for a handful of people holding signs on the courthouse square Saturday to protest Indiana Senate Bill 590, a bill similar to one in Arizona focusing on illegal immigration.

The Senate approved the controversial bill last week and it goes to the House next. The bill contains penalties for businesses that hire people who are in this country illegally and allows police officers to ask someone for proof of immigration status if there is a reasonable suspicion the person is in the country illegally, among other measures.

Wendy Mallette, a junior at Valparaiso University from Tennessee who’s majoring in international service, helped organize the protest with the help of members of VU’s Spanish department.

The bill, she said, would create fear for those in the immigrant community who need to seek medical attention or help from the police because they would be scared they would get in trouble.

“I think immigration reform is important, but I think this is the wrong direction,” Mallette said.

Stacy Hoult-Saros, who teaches in the Spanish department at VU and is faculty adviser for the Latino student group on campus, LIVE, said she would like the state’s lawmakers to think compassionately but realistically about people in this country illegally.

The country needs the labor they provide, yet they have no protection in the work force.

“I simply feel there are more important things for Indiana lawmakers to be focused on and spending money on” than racial profiling, she said, noting one of the points of criticism about the bill.

Ron Popp of Jackson Township was blunt in his criticism of the bill.

“It just seems like a stupid idea. It puts us in the state of Indiana in danger of lawsuits for profiling,” he said, adding there are already laws to address immigration issues. “There are already other ways to do this. This is dumb.”