Right Time, Wrong Place

I sympathize with the motives of the throng protesting Arizona's unconstitutional new immigration law who marched Saturday to Dallas City Hall and I actually understand why they marched there. At least I think I know why -- the plaza in front of the building offers the perfect place for a large crowd to assemble. Still, as a symbolic gesture, it was all wrong. The Arizona law is not a municipal one. It was enacted by a state legislature and signed by the governor. In fact, I know of three cities in Arizona, including the two largest - Phoeniz and Tucson - who have filed suits challenging the law.

Here in Dallas, the city's leaders have absolutely no intention of even passing ordinances like the onerous one passed by the Farmers Branch City Council, already struck down by the courts, that attempted to regulate immigration through housing, let alone the far broader one passed by the Arizona Legislature. The Dallas City Council at least has the sense to know that immigration regulation is, by definition, the sole jurisdiction of the federal government. So marching in Dallas City Hall was simply for the convenience, not the message.

The protest would have had far more symbolic meaning if the marchers had continued past City Hall to assemble around the Kennedy Memorial next to the Earle Cabell Federal Building. Think about it.