Increased concern about the lack of meaningful immigration reform and the high rate of Latino arrests for minor and trumped up charges brought out large numbers of demonstrators to San José's City Hall Plaza in two separate demonstrations during the first week of May. San José police have arrested more people for public drunkenness in recent years than any other department in California. Latinos are being arrested in disproportionate numbers and immigrants, when caught up in DUI sweeps, face potential loss of their pathway to US citizenship. Close examination of arrests in the city reveal a pattern not found in other large cities or in statewide totals.

On May 1st, groups including Voluntarios de la Comunidad and Silicon Valley Alliance for Immigration Reform organized a march from the major intersection of King and Story that wound its way through the city streets to a final rally at City Hall Plaza. Activists called for immigration reform and an end to raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). May first is also International Workers Day and speakers acknowledged solidarity with the world's workers who are suffering from the recession at a time when bankers are receiving government bailouts.

On May 5, Cinco de Mayo, a protest in front of City Hall preceded a City Council meeting where residents expressed that city dwellers can no longer trust the police. The demonstration of about 100 people was a tense affair, held under the intimidating presence of mounted police. Standing in the large open-air plaza, competing with loud music from the opposite side of City Hall, and restricted to the use of one small megaphone by city officials who monitored the event, individuals of Latino, Muslim and African-American heritage recounted their experiences at the hands of overzealous and biased police officers.

Read more | Cops Watch Copwatchers in San José | City Officials Try to Silence Outcry Against Police Brutality | Voluntarios de la Comunidad