PHOENIX, June 28 (UPI) -- Immigration reform should be a matter for the U.S. government to resolve and not left for Arizona and other states to settle, community activists say.
To promote that message, a group of about 200 people gathered in a parking lot in downtown Phoenix Sunday to spell out "S.O.S. Congress" with their bodies while being photographed from a high-rise apartment balcony, The Arizona Republic reported.
With Arizona's controversial immigration law going into effect next month, protesters have been pressuring federal lawmakers to enact comprehensive national immigration reform, the newspaper said.
The protest organizer says she wanted people to know not everyone in Arizona supports the upcoming law.
"I just felt I had to explain to the rest of the country that we are a diverse state," said Kimber Lanning, a Phoenix community activist and business owner.
"It's important that people don't hastily rush into this. The issue is very, very complex."
Another protester said she was dismayed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's recent remark that "the majority" of illegal immigrants were bringing drugs into the country, a statement many officials have denounced.
"All a statement like that does is inflame people already on edge," said Amie Kafer, who attended Sunday's protest with her mother.
