Posted on 10/20/2003 9:45:36 AM PDT by jawz
Immigration must slow, activists say
Fledgling Triangle groups join wave of those pushing for tighter borders
By MICHAEL EASTERBROOK, Staff Writer
When pro-immigrant groups announced a rally in Durham last month, the founder of Stop the Invasion! vowed to crash the party with a protest of his own.
But as hundreds of immigrants and their supporters chanted on the steps of the N.C. Mutual Life Insurance Co. building, Randy Lewis, dressed in a pinstriped suit, stood barely noticed across the street -- unsuccessfully urging police to arrest and deport the demonstrators.
Lewis, a Raleigh resident, often finds himself outnumbered, yet that hasn't stopped him from expressing his views. Since forming the group more than a year ago to push for a crackdown on illegal immigrants, he has staged three protests in the Triangle and is intent on organizing more.
Although support for Stop the Invasion! among North Carolinians is difficult to gauge, its emergence reflects a national trend: Groups sharing beliefs similar to Lewis' are on the rise throughout the country.
"Our activist base continues to grow steadily," said David Ray, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington-based group that wants to sharply reduce the number of people allowed into the country. "Immigration is starting to filter into the interior of the country, and people are waking up and feeling like they no longer live in the United States."
The number of national organizations calling for a crackdown on immigration grew from 10 in 2000 to 15 today, said Devin Burghart, a director at the Chicago-based Center for New Community. The group, which tracks organizations such as Stop the Invasion!, thinks they foster discrimination and even violence against immigrants, an accusation Lewis denies.
At least six smaller, grassroots groups similar to Stop the Invasion! have emerged in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.
"Right now we're looking at a pretty well-orchestrated national movement," Burghart said.
'Can't let everyone in'
Lewis' own views on immigration may offer a glimpse into what is behind the trend.
A former resident of Northern California, Lewis speaks some Spanish and said he was once fluent in several languages. He said he loved living on the West Coast because of its good restaurants and cultural diversity. But eventually, he said, immigration ruined the state.
"I lived in California for 35 years and I saw it go from the best state in the United States to the worst," said Lewis, who declined to answer several questions about his past and his personal experiences. "I don't want to get sidetracked on human interest," he said during an hour-long interview earlier this month.
In 1998, Lewis said he left a construction and landscaping company he owned in California and came to North Carolina, drawn to what he described as the state's rich plant life and its conservative reputation. After the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he launched Stop the Invasion! to protest what he sees as an invasion of the United States by Mexico.
"I found it unbelievable that we had done nothing about the borders," said Lewis, a replica of the U.S. flag pinned to his tie. "The problem is, we can't let everyone in, and if we do, it won't be America."
Protests tied to 9/11
Lewis staged his first protest at the Mexican Consulate in Raleigh on the first anniversary of the terror attacks and another a year later. About two dozen protesters joined Lewis that day.
None of the terrorists involved in the Sept. 11 attacks were Mexicans, but Lewis said he targeted the consulate because of its government's "total obliviousness to the security and welfare of this country."
Although Lewis said he opposes violence against immigrants and welcomes those who have come to the United States legally, he favors cutting the number of people granted residency to about 300,000 a year.
The U.S. government gives permanent residency to about 1 million people annually as refugees, family members and spouses of U.S. citizens, and people whose job skills are considered vital to national interests.
Millions more are thought to be residing illegally in the United States: They include people who have slipped across borders, those who have overextended tourist and work visas, and others who have entered using false documents.
North Carolina's foreign-born population is roughly 430,000 -- about 190,000 of whom are thought to be residing in the state illegally, according to the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which also favors curbs on immigration.
Lewis declined to reveal how many members his group has, where it gets its funding or how he supports himself.
"Let's just say I don't have to work for a living," said Lewis, who described himself as in his early 50s and single.
Measuring how Lewis' views sit with people in North Carolina is difficult.
Ron Woodard, the founder and president of another group in the Triangle area pushing for curbs on immigration, says his membership grew by 30 last year to about 100 today. A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, Woodard launched the group N.C. LISTEN in October 2000 with help from several people he met at a meeting organized by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
"Every time I do an op-ed piece [for a newspaper], I get 10 or 15 phone calls, and most of the people want to pat me on the back," said Woodard, 54, who lives in Cary and declined to reveal his occupation. "People are getting irritated."
At least one lawmaker in North Carolina echoed that sentiment.
"Based on the mail and e-mail we receive, people are more outspoken now than they've been in a long time," said U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican from Farmville who supports tougher border security.
Yet there is reason to doubt that North Carolinians are embracing Stop the Invasion! and groups like it. Protesters were largely absent from pro-immigrant rallies last month that attracted hundreds of supporters in six other cities and towns in North Carolina. Immigration lawyers and advocacy groups, meanwhile, say they have seen no signs of a backlash.
"North Carolina has always been a state predominated by moderates and fair-minded people, and I don't see any sea change in that," said Jack Pinnix, a Raleigh lawyer and president-emeritus of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
But Lewis sees himself as a modern-day patriot and vows to raise his group's profile, though he's not ready to reveal his plans.
"We have quite a few projects," he said, "and I don't want to go into any of them."
jawz and Tax-chick I notice neither of you are on the NC Ping list. If you would like me or Constitution Day to add you just FReep mail us and it will be so : )
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