Immigration advocates block traffic in downtown Seattle

Try as they might, immigration-overhaul advocates who were hoping to get arrested during a demonstration Thursday in downtown Seattle just, well, couldn't.

They packed the lobby of a downtown office building for about an hour, blocking access to its elevators and refusing to let people through.

When that wasn't enough, they spilled into the street and sat down in the middle of three successive intersections along Madison Street, blocking traffic.

That, too, didn't do it.

"We tried," said Pramila Jayapal, founder and executive director of the immigrant-advocacy organization OneAmerica, which had a key role in organizing the rally. "Next time, we'll be looking at something bigger."

The Seattle Police Department, which had stationed several officers near the scene, did not immediately respond to questions about why they made no arrests. The department's media-relations unit was short-staffed Thursday, according to a media-update recording.

The purpose of the rally was to push for an immigration policy that includes a path to American citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants in the U.S.

Demonstrators were also demanding that President Obama deliver this year on promises to overhaul the nation's immigration policy.

The rally drew some 250 demonstrators to the Jackson Federal Building on Second Avenue and coincided with similar events scheduled in Los Angeles, New York and other cities.

It was staged by the Washington Immigration Reform Coalition, an umbrella group of some 60 organizations that includes OneAmerica, numerous faith groups and labor organizations.

Rally leaders here had said several dozen supporters, including Jayapal, King County Councilmember Larry Gossett, and Estela Ortega, executive director of social-service agency El Centro de la Raza, would commit nonviolent acts of civil disobedience in hopes of getting arrested to draw greater attention to their cause.

The rally began around 11 a.m. with protesters then crossing Second Avenue to pack the lobby in a building that houses the offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with unrelated businesses.

Several people appeared angry they could not get to the elevators, and demonstrators tussled with a few of them.

Charlie Davis, who works for a travel company in the building, said he was trying to get to his workplace and didn't realize demonstrators were trying to keep people away from the elevators. Before he even got that far, he said, he was grabbed and pushed.

"I was in shock," said Davis, who considers what happened to him an assault. "If someone would've explained as I was coming in: 'This is what we're doing,' I would've gone to an alternate route. But when they start grabbing and pushing, I think that's ridiculous."

When no arrests were made there, demonstrators moved outside, blocking the intersection of Second Avenue and Madison Street, then moving uphill to Third and Fourth avenues.

Officers looked on and redirected traffic but still didn't take anyone into custody, and ralliers disbanded at about 1:40 p.m.

Dan Ford, a Seattle attorney and one of the demonstrators hoping to be arrested, said he considered the event a victory, despite the lack of arrests.

"We showed there are people willing to be arrested" to show the need for immigration overhaul, he said.

Information from Seattle Times archives is used in this report.

Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com