PEGGY PEATTIE / Union-Tribune
A deputy directed protesters Anthony Porrello (center) and Michaela Saucedo (far right) to stand back from the sidewalk outside the arts center.
Posted on 08/12/2005 5:30:37 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
August 12, 2005
CARLSBAD – Police from several jurisdictions, most wearing riot gear, formed a barrier to keep the peace between those attending a forum on illegal immigration and protesters who ranged from Latino activists to Muslim students.
PEGGY PEATTIE / Union-Tribune
A deputy directed protesters Anthony Porrello (center) and Michaela Saucedo (far right) to stand back from the sidewalk outside the arts center.
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"Today we have the worst enforcement we've ever had in the history of our country," Pete Nunez, a former U.S. attorney in San Diego, said.
With scores of police guarding the entrance to the Carlsbad Community Cultural Arts Center on the campus of Carlsbad High School, the physical violence anticipated by Carlsbad Unified Superintendent John Roach did not materialize, although the two factions shouted angrily at one another.
Police said that no arrests were made. A sheriff's deputy said one man was held on the ground by protesters and officers extricated him. He did not appear to be injured.
Protesters began lining up five hours before the 7 p.m. forum. Afterward, representatives from immigrant-advocacy groups from Southern California, Arizona and Mexico held a news conference to offer a view of undocumented immigration that contrasted sharply with that expressed by the panelists.
By 3:30 p.m., Carlsbad police requested help from the San Diego Police Department in monitoring the crowd. A mobile field force of San Diego officers was dispatched. Oceanside police and sheriff's deputies in riot gear also came as did police detachments from National City, La Mesa, El Cajon and Chula Vista. All told, about 150 officers were at the scene, a sheriff's deputy said. They formed double lines on the street and leading into the theater.
Chants of "USA! USA!" from the forum attendees waiting in line drowned out Spanish chants of "We want a world without borders."
"Go back home!" one group shouted. "We are home!" the other group responded.
About 250 people who wanted to attend were left outside the forum with an estimated 120 to 150 protesters.
Inside, the forum crowd was of one mind: opposition to illegal immigration.
Tancredo said the issue is not about about racism but about protecting the country for American children of all creeds.
Tancredo received a standing ovation when he said, "All I ask is that once you get here, you disconnect from the old, connect with the new and become American."
All 406 seats in the auditorium were filled, and a few people were standing.
Republican state Sen. Bill Morrow of Oceanside said he organized the forum to discuss how defense of the nation begins at the border, and that he timed it for yesterday based entirely on Tancredo's busy schedule.
Morrow said he has talked to Tancredo for months, even before embattled Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Rancho Santa Fe, announced he will not seek re-election in the 50th District. Morrow said yesterday he will run for Cunningham's seat next year.
"I know what the solution is," Morrow said. "We are not controlling our borders and it's a sea coming through. We are capable of controlling our borders if there is the political will to do it."
James Gilchrist of Aliso Viejo, co-founder of the Minutemen project, said that although President Bush and others call the Minutemen vigilantes, they are not.
They are "immigration-law enforcement-advocacy groups" who have had to pick up where the U.S. government has abandoned them, Gilchrist said.
Tancredo attracted a group of protesters last night from the Muslim community in response to his recent comments on a Florida talk-radio show. He suggested on the show last month that the United States might respond to an Islamic terrorist attack by bombing Muslim holy sites. He did not apologize, but later said the idea was part of a discussion on how to defend the United States, not a proposition to bomb holy sites.
Last night, about two dozen Muslim leaders and families carried signs and joined other protesters.
The majority of protesters, however, came from the Latino community. Some called for more open borders, others for humane treatment of all immigrants.
"Go home, racist, go home," protesters chanted.
Other panelists included Los Angeles medical attorney and author Madeleine Cosman, who said illegal immigrants are a dangerous and hidden cost for the country; and Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, who has favored the creation of a state border police force. Conservative radio talk-show host Roger Hedgecock was the moderator.
Robert Vasquez, commissioner of Canyon County in southwest Idaho, spoke about the cost of illegal immigration on local governments.
When the forum ended around 9 p.m., those in the auditorium were escorted by police through a back door to their cars to avoid more confrontation with the protesters.
The forum was held on the campus after Morrow sued Carlsbad Unified's Roach for rescinding permission for use of a theater on the grounds. Roach had cited fears that crowd unruliness could jeopardize school property.
After Morrow filed suit Monday, Roach changed his mind and said any questions about freedom of speech were more important than questions about crowd behavior. Morrow's attorney said the senator will go to court to seek legal fees from Roach in the coming weeks.
"My allies are President Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, the Republican National Committee, and the leadership of Congress."
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No doubt - THOSE are some allies one would definitely want on their side.
Those same people . . the President, Vice President, Secretary of Homeland Security, the GOP, and the leadership of Congress . .. do you suppose they might be allied together to merge the United States, Mexico, and Canada into a new deal?
A kind of European Union, but only this one would be for North America?
Is there anything to that?
The Perimeter of the United States in Miles: from 10,000 to 50,000 Miles Depending.
By reducing your inflated numbers by 80% to reflect the actual border perimeter of the United States, that would mean that the number of guards necessary to patrol our border would be about 600,000.
Where are you gonna find 600,000 border agents? They gotta come from someplace. Not from the military I hope. We currently have about 1.4 million active duty military soldiers. And you want almost half of them to patrol just the US border?
Keep in mind we have about 180,000 soldiers in Iraq right now, God bless them. They have not done a perfect job of securing Iraq's 2,200 mile border.
Also keep in mind that the soldiers in Iraq likely face less border traffic and can shoot first and ask questions later, with little fear of civilian deaths or destruction of property, if they catch a large mass of people moving across the border surreptitiously in the dead of night.
Some soldiers may not believe they are best suited for defending the nation against hungry Mexican families, and there could be further declines in active military troop strength.
Actually I don't advocate putting 600,000 guards on our country's border nor do I think it's even feasible to do so. I was simply pointing out to bayourod that his stated figure of over 100,000 miles as the length of our country's border is exaggerated by quite a bit.
By the way, thanks for the link that you provided.
Hey!
Your little guy who fell down can get up, now!
I might add that he's manic about it. ;o)
Thanks for the ping!
That one did turn out pretty good -
Pretty good?
It's excellent! ;o)
If these protesters who were chanting in Spanish really want a world without borders, I guess they wouldn't mind if 50 million non-Latino foreigners immigrate to Mexico over the next 20 years or so.
Hats sporting the U.S. Flag, as well as shirts, are good. Even if they aren't FReepers you know they're worth talking to.
Except that freak with the swastika defiling Old Glory. Every time I see that a buzzing tinitus escalates until I can clearly discern "center mass...center mass..."
"I guess they wouldn't mind if 50 million non-Latino foreigners immigrate to Mexico over the next 20 years or so."
They won't care, in less time than that if things don't change there won't be any mexicans in Mexico, they will all be here.
And if frogs could fly...
For a very long time I have been asking people who claim that the border can be sealed to show me one single credible study, report or scholarly paper that shows how we can seal the border.
The last person who thought they knew how to seal the border was Jaime Gorelick. See my profile page and read the Inspector General's Report linked thereon.
The people who believe that the border can be sealed live in a fantasy world where all you have to do is believe in something enough and it will come true.
Tancredo will not run for President as a Republican because he can't participate in a debate. The first time he is challenged on how he proposes to seal the border and he gives some childish answer like, "If we can send a man to the moon, we can seal the border", he will be laughed out of the primary. Why do you think Tancredo is thought of as a joke?
When the final bill comes out of conference committee the Hammer will deliver the votes for President Bush just as he has the last five years.
I've spoken with Tom one-on-one several times over the years, beginning when he first started to run for Congress. He is loyal to the Republican party, President Bush and Karl Rove.
I wish the Quisling Bridage of False Flag Freepers were as honest.
If by effective you mean one that migrant workers cannot get over, under or through, you will never see that.
Do you know that the Berlin Wall never stopped one single person from crossing into West Berlin? It didn't. The guards with machine guns every fifty yards in towers and on the ground stopped people who otherwise would have simply climbed over the wall.
Fences are excellent for stopping vehicles and for delineating borders, but they have never stopped people from crossing. (And now one is being built in New Mexico to prevent Mexican cattle which might be diseased from crossing.)
When you were in the Seals and your unit came upon a chain link fence did you give up your mission and return to base saying the mission was impossible because of a chain link fence? What about a wall or a river or a "no trespassing" sign? No matter how tightly you squeeze your eyes and wish, wish, wish, there is no magic fence, only 102,000 miles of land border and shoreline which would require well over three million guards to patrol as long as we fail to enact the necessary reforms that would allow us to secure the border.
PS: A magic fence would not have stopped the estimated 50% of illegals currently in the U.S. who entered legally and didn't return after their visa or permit expired.
The United States has a border perimeter of just under 20,000 miles.
Your numbers are exaggerated by a factor of more than 5.
Thanks for the bump. With your help, this article will be read by hundreds of lurkers. Keep it coming.
Would that these people were loyal to the citizens of their country, rather than a political party (and that goes for either major party, as well as any of the minor ones).
When you're talking electoral politics you're talking parties. Independents never passed a single law.
Reality, it's not just a TV show.
And whenever attenting a function populated by these scum suckers always wear steel toed boots.
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