Posted on 10/04/2003 8:49:40 AM PDT by GoRepGo
Chris Simcox said the only way to resolve the illegal immigration issue is through a level-headed discussion, but the yelling that started off Friday's protest was anything but.
More than 50 people stood in front of the Yuma County Courthouse Friday evening to listen as two anti-illegal immigration groups voiced their disapproval of how Alexander Dumas and Matthew Hoffman are being treated by the court system.
Both men will be sentenced on Wednesday after pleading guilty to conspiracy to detain the six illegal immigrants.
But before anyone could lend their support to the men, a very loud argument broke out while several Yuma Police officers watched.
On one side was Simcox's Tombstone-based Civil Homeland Defense, the California-based American Civil Responsibilities Union and several locals. On the other side were three members of the Tucson-based Humane Borders group and local resident Jesus Landeros, who kicked off the yelling.
"Are we going to be able to go to the river without being bothered?" Landeros said, referring to the possibility that Yuma County will soon have a citizens' border patrol group. "If it wasn't for the wetbacks, their wouldn't be any lettuce pickers."
While Landeros was booed and laughed at, Howard Garber, president of the ACRU, fired back.
"When you come over the border that way, illegally, it's a crime," Garber yelled. "To stay here illegally is another crime. And our government is doing nothing to stop it. Why don't you go back there if you like Mexico so much?"
After a few more minutes of yelling, both sides eventually calmed down and the official protest was allowed to begin.
Garber was first to speak and said Dumas and Hoffman were getting railroaded by the court system and were tricked into a plea bargain with the Yuma County Attorney's Office, which he said promised the men probation.
Now, he said, family members are worried Dumas and Hoffman will be given jail time because of political pressure put on the judge by local anti-Dumas and Hoffman groups.
"I think we ought to all make sure we stay until the very end and let the judge know that he's not going to be a dictator and he's not going to let the justice system here intimidate them."
Garber encouraged attendees to create a plaque honoring Hoffman and Dumas' actions and said they should be considered heroes, not criminals. That drew cheers from the crowd and Simcox, who then offered the opportunity to create a local patrol group.
But before Simcox could talk to the crowd, the debate was resurrected.
"You just want to make name for yourself, that's all," Landeros shouted to Garber.
That comment drew a response from a man identified only as Roy, who was handing out flyers that show a Mexican man standing on a corner and states he is looking for a job, his wife is receiving free medical treatment and his four sons are gang members.
The man in the flyer is identified as "Good 'Ol Harmless Pedro."
"That's Pedro over there," Roy said while pointing to Landeros. "There's 11 million over here that aren't doing a damn thing."
After that, Simcox stepped in and showed the group pictures of some of the more than 1,600 illegal immigrants his group has turned over to Tucson Border Patrol agents.
He said locals fed up with the government's failure to secure the country's borders should tell everyone from local officials to the President of the United States of their anger. Then he took questions from several local residents who expressed interest in creating a local patrol.
"When another community along the border rises up to take this job into their own hands, that will send a message to President Bush and Governor Napolitano," he said. "Governor Napolitano should be recalled immediately for not putting the National Guard on our border."
--- Louie Villalobos can be reached at lvillalobos@yumasun.com or 539-6858.
© Copyright, YumaSun.com
Ain't it wonderful that good 'ol Jorge speaks spanish so well, so he doesn't need a translator to give the country away?:
"Mi Casa Blanca es su Casa Blanca, mi país es su país, mi dinero de ciudadano es su dinero de ciudadano, mis trabajos de ciudadano son su ciudadano, mi mejor amigo."
But the irony of the United States government criminally failing to defend our borders and spending more effort fighting its citizens is far, far greater.
At some point, it ceases to be our government. Have we already passed that point, or are we about to?
You have got to be kidding. What next "conspiracy to detain murder suspect ? conspiracy to detain criminals ------you fill in the blank ?
At some point, it ceases to be our government. Have we already passed that point, or are we about to?
Yes and yes. Hard to believe even after 9-11 this is still happening. What's it going to take for Washington to wake up?!!?
¡Convengo, tiempo estoy funcionando brevemente! ¡Agradezca a dios que tenemos lecciones del Internet para libre!
Enmienda XXVIII al Contitution:
Todos los leyes futuros serán escritos en español, todos los leyes escritos en inglés precediendo esta enmienda, serán hechos cumplir solamente en esos ciudadanos llevados dentro de las fronteras de los Estados Unidos que hablan inglés como primero lengua.
Enmienda XXVIV al Contitution:
No se hará cumplir ninguna ley, inhibiendo la libertad movimiento a través o dentro de las fronteras de, de la deportación de, o del empleo dentro de los Estados Unidos, hasta el segundo martes de la semana próxima.
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