Attacks On Cecilia Muñoz Escalate In Arizona

The scrutnity aimed at President Barack Obama’s Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Muñoz ramped up Thursday night in Phoenix, Arizona. Roberto Lovato, co-founder and strategist for Presente.org, has been calling Muñoz to stop defending the president’s immigration policy, and Thursday night he claimed that her hosts at the National League of Cities’ (NLC) Congress of Cities and Exposition threatened to call the police on protestors there. Others, such as blogger Mario Solis-Marich, have called for Muñoz to resign.

Arizona State Rep. Rubén Gallego, who told NewsTaco he was at the event disputed this version of events.

Specifically, Lovato and Presente.org seem to be trying to personalize immigration policy by highlighting how Muñoz’s defense of these policies is harmful to Latinos. To this end, Thursday Lovato posted on Facebook, “Cecilia Muñoz refused to meet with Felipe Matos, Carlos Garcia and Phoenix Latinos troubled by Obama Administration policies. Instead, she had her hosts threaten to call Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio to arrest and probably deport undocumented immigrants and others.”

Gallego, who was present at the event, told us this accusation is bogus.

“I can not believe these outright lies. The host was the Phoenix Convention Center, they are city employees, they would never call the sheriff’s office. For out-of-state visitors to flippantly start rumors of collusion between city employees and sheriffs is dangerous. Many of us Arizonans have been targeted by Sheriff [Arpaio], we do not need more misinformation,” Gallego said.

Gallego demanded more information, a description of those who made the threats, a location and time of said incidents. Plus, Gallego told us, Muñoz did meet with activists at the conference. “Cecilia did meet with Latinos in Phoenix that worry about our immigration. She held a two-hour meeting with 25 Latino Leaders [and] concerns about immigration policy were discussed,” he said.

Presente.org published a letter recently asking for Muñoz to “stop being the voice of misinformation” and the organization has been actively protesting the Obama administration’s immigration policies for a while, especially Secure Communities. Many claim that Presente.org crossed the line by personally attacking Muñoz with these criticisms, though on a letter Lovato sent out Friday disputes making any personal attacks on Muñoz, and instead focusing on statements she has made.

DREAMer and Present.org member Felipe Matos told NewsTaco that the protest outside the Phoenix event was peaceful. Gallegos was not present there, he told us, but after DREAMers shared their stories, Matos wanted to go deliver a letter to Muñoz, who he said was on the third floor of the building. Before he could get on the escalator Matos told us he was blocked, and after much consulting via radios, a male security guard and his female supervisor angrily and nervously told him to leave or the police would be called.

Because Matos did not have his paperwork, organizers decided to leave, so to avoid Matos ending up in Sheriff Arpaio’s tent city, he said.

Muñoz’s professional career has revolved around immigrant rights and immigration reform and so it would be strange that she would have, in the same evening, both met with protestors and then threatened to call the police in them. What this particular episode seems to highlight is that the stakes in the fight for immigration reform that were already high are becoming higher for some. The Obama Administration made changes to its disputed immigration policy earlier this year, but those changes have largely not been enforced.