Laid-back Phoenix in turmoil over immigration controversy

PHOENIX — This confident, laid-back city is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Immigration reform is more than a political issue here, it's an acute psychosis.

People were shocked two weeks ago when a mostly Latino crowd, now estimated at more than 25,000, blocked traffic in a posh part of town to protest the draconian, purely punitive immigration measures passed by the House of Representatives. Those 25,000 protesters arguably had more impact than the 500,000 who marched in Los Angeles, because Phoenix feels the impact of illegal immigration from Mexico like no other major city.

"We're the tip of the arrowhead," said Alfredo Gutierrez, a former state legislator who now hosts a Spanish-language radio talk show and helped lead the demonstration. Gutierrez and others predict that a second march planned for Monday will draw up to 100,000 people. This time organizers are asking protesters not to wave Mexican flags, because that gesture drives the anti-immigration crowd berserk. Numbers alone will suffice to make the point.

Here, it's all about the numbers. The city's population of 1.5 million is believed to include up to 250,000 undocumented migrants, the vast majority of them from Mexico. Every morning, scores of newly arrived pilgrims line up at the Mexican Consulate on Camelback Road to obtain a Matricula Consular — an identification card that the consulate issues whether the pilgrim crossed the border legally or not. Bank of America regularly sets up a table in a corner of the consulate's waiting room to enroll new account-holders on the spot and welcome them to the American dream.

Rusty Childress, who owns a Buick-Kia car dealership across the street from the consulate, sees that long line of pilgrims every day and it drives him to distraction. Childress has emerged as one of the leaders of the anti-immigrant movement, which includes the self-appointed Minutemen who patrol the border and even a group called Mothers Against Illegal Aliens. "Mexico is trying to reconquer this country without firing a shot," Childress says, and he is speaking without irony.

"We're just pressing the issue to enforce the laws that are already on the books," Childress says. People aren't supposed to cross the border without proper documents. Employers aren't supposed to hire them. The government is supposed to deport them, not provide them services. It's that simple.

But of course it isn't simple at all.