PHOTOS: In Arizona, drawing lines over border law

Neon signs on the refurbished Earls 66 Motor Court announce amenities for travelers along Route 66. Interstate 40 bypasses the historic part of Winslow, but civic leaders are trying to lure tourists back to the heart of the little city that was once along the route to and from the West Coast.


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Marie LaMar, 83, participates in an anti-tax protest. Born and raised in Winslow, she staunchly supports Arizona’s tough new immigration law. “Don’t sneak across the border and live here for 25 years and complain you can’t get government health or education help,” she said. “Political correctness is like a disease, like typhoid or malaria.”


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Antonio Cardiel cuts sidewalk pavers in the heart of Winslow, where the city is revitalizing a five-block stretch of old Route 66. Cardiel was born in Mexico and works legally in the U.S. Some of his friends are also employed but without legal papers. He said, “Under this law, people will be afraid to go to the store or even outside.”


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A westbound BNSF container train moves into Winslow on new rails that bear the names of the workers who welded them. Winslow was founded in the early 1880s as a water stop for steam engines on the Los Angeles to Chicago route. The railroad remains an important employer in the economically struggling tourist town along old Route 66 in northern Arizona.


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Donna Fletcher and Steven Harvey join a group of conservative locals rallying in support of Arizona’s tough new immigration law. “If they break the law to come here, can we trust them to become citizens of repute?” said Harvey, a preacher in the local First Christian Church.


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Winslow native Thomas Chacon Sr. chokes back tears at the community swimming pool, recalling the days when black and Latino children were only allowed to swim on Fridays; each Saturday the pool was drained to clear the “dirty water.” Now a city councilman, Chacon worries that the state’s tough new immigration law is a rebirth of racial profiling. “It’s scaring the hell out of a lot of people,” he said.


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A westbound container train moves out of Winslow, across the high desert parallel to Interstate 40.


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Stephen Garnett, Winslow police chief, paints the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal AME Church, where he is the pastor. When asked how his police force would regard the stringent Arizona bill that will mandate that his officers check the immigration status of anyone regardless of probable cause, he said, “My command staff includes a Native American, an African American and an Anglo, and my lead investigator is Hispanic. ... In Winslow, we do not tolerate racial profiling of any kind.”  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

The Winslow Little League Devils do a cheer as their team is announced at opening day ceremonies. The ethnic diversity on the girls team is representative of this northern Arizona town of 10,000 people.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)