Map: Arpaio protest march from Falcon Park to Tent City Jail
PHOENIX -- Advocates for immigrant rights marched Saturday to protest the immigration efforts of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Salvador Reza, chief organizer of the protest, says the advocates hope to show officials in Washington that Arpaio shouldn't be doing immigration enforcement and that Congress and the Obama administration need to come up with a way for immigrant workers to come to the country legally.
Arpaio defends his immigration efforts as necessary in a state plagued by a porous border and that the protesters ought to be complaining to Congress instead of him.
Protesters were walked nearly three miles from a west Phoenix park to Arpaio's jail complex that includes Tent City, where inmates are housed in surplus military tents.
When the marchers arrived at Tent City, officers stationed there reportedly deployed pepper spray into the crowd. It's not clear exactly what precipitated that. At least one person was arrested.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
