Posted on 03/26/2006 5:54:35 PM PST by EternalVigilance
Blaring car horns, racist slurs and angry fisticuffs punctuated a volatile encounter of protesters and counter-protesters Saturday morning outside Bank Calumet.
"God bless America! Stay out of our business!" yelled members of the locally based Indiana Federation for Immigration Reform and Enforcement.
"Go home (expletive) Nazi racists!" yelled members of an opposing group of circling counterprotesters.
The federation, a public interest organization advocating what it calls immigration policies with an impact, demonstrated against bank loans for undocumented aliens, echoing six similar previous local protests.
Several members of the Chicago Minuteman Project joined the federation, hoisting protest signs to passing motorists and exchanging verbal jabs with visibly angry counterprotesters.
"We're not racists, we're LEGAL Americans," Minuteman members yelled under American flags whipping in a fierce wind. "Those people are Communists."
The counterprotesters -- some from the Progressive Labor Party of Chicago, others from Purdue University Calumet or there on their own -- chanted in bilingual defiance: "¡Obreros unidos jamas seran vencidos!" or, "Workers united will never be defeated!"
Susana Findley, a Gary native whose parents were born in Mexico, said illegal immigrant workers arrived here for the same reason federation members' ancestors arrived: To find work and a better life.
"But those racist immigrants forget about that," said Findley, nodding toward the federation's camp.
Several counterprotesters arrived earlier than the scheduled 10 a.m. federation protest, setting up shop at the corner of Calumet Avenue and Ridge Road.
When 63-year-old Chicago Minuteman member Rick Biesada arrived and pulled out his protest sign, he claimed that two counterprotesters yanked it from him. When he yanked it back, the men assaulted him, knocking him to the ground, he said.
The Lindenhurst, Ill., resident was treated by paramedics at the scene for a gash over his eye and dizziness, spending a few minutes inside an ambulance before returning to the protest.
"I wished he fell to the ground harder," Findley said.
Munster police Sgt. Nick Hudak, one of several officers showing up to stand between the opposing groups, said no arrests were made and no other injuries occurred.
Protesters on both sides said the escalating debate over U.S. House Bill 4437, the so-called Border Security bill, may have inflamed the controversy of offering bank loans to illegal aliens.
The bill, which would strengthen enforcement of existing immigration laws and enhance border security, has already passed the House and could be voted on by the Senate as early as this week.
Federation co-founder and Valparaiso resident Cheree Calabro, while passing out fliers to motorists, said similar demonstrations at Bank Calumet had no such problems with counterprotesters.
"I think they're feeling more emboldened with all the national protests (supporting illegal immigration)," said Calabro, whose group is the Indiana chapter of the national Minuteman Project.
OMG.... you hit that one right on the head!
(Memories of Federales search while on an innocent weekend trip into Baja. Quite unsettling. Mexico is not a vacation destination for my family).
We hope it's an eternal sleep.
Doug, his stolen computer doesn't have spell check. BTW, I like your tag line.
Well, for a breath of fresh air and crystal clear water, there's always Mexico City and Caracus.
I've observed the same here in Western, NC. It's pretty easy to tell the illegals from the legals.
Should have been dealt with in the 1970s. The first real problems I saw on the border started during the Carter administration.
"Dream on! Quite the opposite, in fact. Illegals can't vote, and it's looking more-and-more like HB4437 will go through every day."
Actually, illegals CAN vote, and do so in large numbers, because no one really bothers to enforce the registration laws less they be labeled racist. The standardized voter registration form only requires them to check off that they are US Citizens, and supply some ID or document (water bill) showing their address. It is the result of the motor-voter act that the Democrats pushed so hard for, with great results.
Organizations like LULAC and La Raza have big registration drives and they don't worry about citizenship. Illegal alien votes have flipped elections in California (ask Bob Dornan) and Virginia (ask Kilgore).
Sorry to say it, but HR 4437 is dead. The spineless Republican Senate will only produce an amnesty bill, and it all will die in conference because no one wants it before the election. And since Republican cowardice on this issue is going to make a lot of the faithfull stay home out of exasperation, an even slimmer Republican majority or a Democrat takeover will guarantee amnesty in 2007.
Don't worry about those 11-20 million ilegals here now - worry about the 50-70 million new illegals 20 years from now.
Of course, by then Congress will have be having bilingual debates, just like in Canada.
You are correct. I expect Hillary's people are profoundly aware of this and will make sure these groups are more than adequately funded (Soros and the like) for 2008.
We had some broken windows in the neighborhood -- probably from rock throwing mobs shouting "Viva La Raza!" We heard the chants, but didn't catch any rocks coming our way. It shook up some of the neighbors who had property damage.
My 12 gauge was locked and loaded the whole time. And will be, from now on.
It was that, and the fact that the Roman's population declined so much that they didn't have enough men to maintain the borders. And the common man really didn't give a darn by the end.
Funny thing is, it was the "barbarians" that gave Western Rome its final flowering. The Gauls, Goths, and other Romanized tribes were the last line of defense in both the border and the culture war.
How old are you? Your grammer is terrible, your punctuation horrendous, and your logic completely out to lunch.
That's an interesting description the site gives. It looks more like he was assaulted while carrying an American flag. Next they'll be calling it a provocative symbol.
thanx to Ladycalif for original photo HILLARY VOTE FRAUD missus clinton uses Jesus READ MORE HERE AND HERE HEAR HILLARY |
I believe there were actually multiple assaults.
The McKennedy bill was introduced less than 9 months ago.
As for the 55-45 alignment based on party affiliation, that ended in early 2003 when AgJobs was negotiated and introduced. In fact, the split within the republican party began before that. It is traceble back to '98, tho it was only a hairline crack back then. There are now two cracks in the republican party, big enough to drive two trucks thru, and those divisions are not going to disappear.
That is why the democrats, who are well unified, will determine what happens.
this should ahve been delt with in the 1980s""
1960's
This is going to be a three way war. On one side the illegal immigrant invaders and their allies on the left. The next side will be the U.S. government. And the third side will be the gun owning population of the United States citizens.
The question of who going to spark it and who's going to shoot who. Because if the Republicans are in control of the federal government when this happens, they may side with the U.S. citizens. But if the democrats are in control, they will side with the illegal invaders, against U.S. citizens.
>>do you know that in NYC in the early 1900s that most immigrants from Italy didnt speak english?? <<
THOSE immigrants, which likely got here LEGALLY, did not have taxpayer-funded bilingual education. The gov't did not kow-tow to them. THEY had to adapt to the US; the US did not have to adapt to them. Oh, BTW, they STILL managed to learn English.
I could not agree more. If we don't build the fence, we will be dealing with an additional 14 million (give or take) illegals within years, and then we are back in the same boat all over again.
I am not anti-immigration, but we HAVE to CONTROL the border!
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