Published: July 30, 2010

Before a crowd of 100 people, citizens and immigrants, Mayor Nutter yesterday proclaimed that he was "very excited" that a federal judge in Arizona brought "some level of sanity" by "striking down most, if not almost eviscerating" a law that was to go into effect yesterday in that state.

"Immigration for some, quite frankly, has become the new segregation," Nutter told the immigrant advocates, who cheered in agreement, at a rally in the Welcome Park plaza in Old City.

Nutter said that he plans to work with other mayors "to get true immigration reform that makes sense, that creates a pathway to citizenship, that stops the attacks on immigrants."

"Unless you are Native American, everyone in the United States of America is an immigrant," the mayor said.

In Arizona yesterday, the state appealed U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton's Wednesday ruling, which blocked the most controversial parts of a state law that would require police to check the immigration status of a person they stop while enforcing another law, if they reasonably suspect the person is here illegally.

Phoenix, the capital, filled with protesters, including about 50 who were arrested for confronting officers in riot gear.

Outside the state Capitol, hundreds of protesters began marching at dawn, gathering in front of the federal courthouse where Bolton issued her ruling. They marched on to the office of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has made a crackdown on illegal immigration one of his signature issues.

At Welcome Park in Philadelphia, 2nd Street near Sansom, advocates celebrated the judge's decision. They held out signs like one that read, "Dear Immigrants, Welcome To Our City. With Love, Philadelphia XOXO," written in the colors and style of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp.'s ad campaign.

State Sen. Daylin Leach, a Democrat who represents parts of Montgomery and Delaware counties, told the group that Arizona's law "is the institutionalization of racial profiling in America."

Leach sponsored a bill (SB 1401) designed to prohibit an Arizona-style law from taking effect in Pennsylvania. His bill follows one (HB 2479) introduced by state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler County, which seeks to make it easy for city and state police to arrest undocumented immigrants in Pennsylvania.

State Rep. Tony Payton, D-Phila., who introduced a bill similar to Leach's in the House, was also at the rally, as was state Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila. Josephs, chairwoman of the state government committee, where Metcalfe's bill now sits, said she intends to stop an Arizona-style bill by her colleagues in the House who "prey on people's fears."

After the speeches, the advocates marched to the U.S. Custom House, on Chestnut Street near 2nd, where the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Office of Investigations is housed.

As the group walked and chanted, a bystander, who declined to identify himself, yelled: "Wait till you become taxpayers!" One of the advocates said: "I am a taxpayer!"

The advocates planned to unroll a large mat with the word "WELCOME" on it in front of the Custom House, but the Police Civil Affairs Unit ordered them not to, said Jen Rock, a coordinator with faith-based New Sanctuary Movement.

Afterward, Buddy Matthews, 59, a construction worker from Frederick, Md., who was sitting near the building, said that he opposes undocumented immigrants "sneaking in here," driving wages down. But he said he supports a pathway to legalization for those already here if they come forward and are "productive." He said it would cost too much to "ship them all back."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.