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.
actually AIDS is a better analogy....when you have 100,000 AIDS cases, that doesnt represent how bad AIDS is now, it represents how bad AIDS was 5 years ago...eve nif immigration stopped tomorrow, those here would eventually start voting and tip the balance towards socialist policies...i think we have passed theat point already
Hillary, is that you?
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.
that isnt my quote and i am not a nazi or a wetback
Still have figured out capitalization, have you...
The MSO=The MSM
Cancer free since November 26, 1991!
Soon the entire south of the united states is going to resemble those drug towns on the Mexican side of the border.
When the civil war starts, you will be a target of both sides!
You can bet whose side our government is on in this war...
TROLL!
Woo hoo!
God bless you, and keep up the good work!
I think you may be in over your head here.
There's no shame in that, but you may want to read more(and learn)and post less.
Welcome to Freerepublic. Hope you have your flame proof jammies on! You certainly are jumping into the fire with both feet.
i dont think theyll be a civil war....latin americans culture isnt expanionist or aggressivve..Aztlan and those other groups have less than 1% support from Mexicans and are less relevant than the Black Panthers were in 1970....mexicans have no fundamentalist philosophy or ideals to guide them, unlike muslims...there is no example in latin american history on one nation conquoring another....
I think that if you were so positive that it was already over OR you actually cared about your country, you would either quit arguing the point, or actually do something to help those who are trying to save it.
Thanks for the post. I am in the process or getting a letter written to my 2 senators. My main subject will be mob rule and the president's and congress's lgeacy if bill #4437 fails in the senate. When I googled the progressive labor party the only definition I could find was communism. Not only do we have mobs in our streets demanding that our rules change to suit illegal aliens, but we also have numerous hispanic gangs and now they are even bringing in the communist party to further the causes of illegals.
there is no way 4437 will pass the senate....It wont survive a filibuster..Hillary will filibuster
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