By Michelle Castro Smythe

PHOENIX — Immigration is a hot topic nationally, and especially in the Phoenix area. Trying to have a reasonable discussion about it is challenging at best. The issue is so divisive it can cause heated arguments among family members and friends. Trying to organize a communitywide conversation in order to reach a middle ground solution seems almost unachievable, yet this is the goal that a local activist is setting for herself.

Independent Congressional District 3 candidate and longtime Phoenix community activist, Annie Loyd, announced recently that she is stepping down from her campaign to address an issue that she feels is dividing the community: illegal immigration. During her campaign, the issue of illegal immigration constantly came up and Loyd learned that there is a critical need for leadership in the Phoenix community to bring forth reasonable and equitable solutions to the mounting and divisive issue of how to address immigration.

Former congressional candidate Annie Lloyd
(Source: annielloydforcongress.com)

"We have a clear understanding of the immediate challenges that are facing our community. In the last several months, it became apparent that running for office was an impediment to having honest and forthright conversations in the critical areas and creating the coalitions we knew were necessary for constructive and long-term solutions," Loyd stated in a media release issued May 13, 2008.

Loyd's new role as an immigration activist includes going to all the locations where Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio conducts sweeps that target undocumented immigrants.

It also involves attempting to organize a communitywide discussion about the issue and finding reasonable solutions without dividing the community even more.

Loyd addressed some of her concerns in a Q&A session published in The Arizona Republic, May 28, 2008.

Question: Why is this issue so important to you?

Answer: Illegal immigration takes in every issue there is - education, the environment, families, family values, religion, culture, transportation, distribution of resources and more. I first noticed it when I worked in construction. It was so hard to find workers. A suburban kid quits in two days. You put a Latino worker on the job, and they would go at it day in and day out. They were polite, kind and trustworthy. Since then I have traveled to Mexico and Latin America, where I saw the poverty and I saw how people could make a big difference with few resources.

Q: To what do you attribute the controversy the issue has caused here?

A: First, when 9/11 happened, we redirected resources away from community programs to military programs. Second, the culture in Phoenix has not merged yet. We are a new city still trying to figure out how to be a city. There also is a social-economic disparity. CEOs are making more in one day than many people make in a year, so many people have legitimate beefs. They need somewhere to direct that anger.

Q: Have Sheriff Joe Arpaio's efforts helped?

A: No. My biggest issue is that he is not arresting real criminals. You cannot solve the problem by scaring everyone. This has become so politicized that we are shooting ourselves in the foot. We cannot put enough cops on the street to do all we ask them to do, and if we did, it would be a militarized community.

Q: What needs to be done?

A: We need to figure out how to return to being the community that we want to be. We'd have these conversations in the campaign. It is up to us as individuals to dig down deeper. Blaming others is a big part of our problem. We have to be responsible ourselves. The best we can hope for right now is to make sure the city does not burn, literally and figuratively. People are frustrated on both sides of the issue. And we are stirring the pot. What we need is an effort to ratchet down the rhetoric.