Philly rally celebrates decision against Arizona immigration law

Opponents of Arizona's immigration law rallied in Old City on Thursday to celebrate a federal judge's decision to put on hold controversial provisions of the law, which would have allowed police to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other statutes.

"Immigration for some, quite frankly, has become the new segregation," Mayor Nutter told a rally at Welcome Park. "We need to figure out a real pathway to citizenship. We cannot have 50 different rules all across the United States of America. That is insanity, makes no sense whatsoever, and it's just not going to work."

State Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery) said that as a Caucasian with no accent, his immigration status would never be investigated.

"If I were a citizen for the United States that had a Hispanic last name or had an accent, I would face the risk and likelihood of being detained every time I encountered a police officer, which is why the Arizona bill is the institutionalization of racial profiling in America," he told dozens of the opponents.

Leach said he had introduced legislation to prohibit Pennsylvania from adopting a law similar to Arizona's.

Under his legislation, local police would not be able to investigate immigration status, leaving that function to federal immigration authorities. When an immigration issue was taken to court, race and ethnicity could not be considered.

After the rally, protesters marched up Walnut Street and then onto the 200 block of Chestnut Street, outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, where they unfurled a large mat with "Welcome" painted across it.