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Border debate gets heavy at Capitol
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Sabrina Eaton
Plain Dealer Bureau
Washington -The illegal immigration debate has hit Ohio's congressional offices like a ton of bricks.

Capitol Hill mailrooms have received about 15,000 bricks in the past two months as part of a border security campaign initiated in response to last month's pro-immigration rallies.

"We intend to be a thorn in the side of Congress until they do what we want them to do, which is to secure the borders and send the illegals home," says Kirsten Heffron of Fairfax, Va., a co-founder of the Send-a-Brick Project.

Meanwhile, the bricks are piling up around the Capitol. Fifty-six are stacked beside a desk in Republican Sen. Mike DeWine's office, some bearing handwritten messages like "Secure the Border."

On the House side, Majority Leader John Boehner has received a dozen bricks.

"Unfortunately, there are enough heated debates in congressional offices that we can't have bricks lying around, so they have to be discarded," says Boehner spokesman Kevin Madden.

GOP Sen. George Voinovich has received 30 bricks and Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich has received 10. They're sending them to Habitat for Humanity. On Friday, New York Democratic Rep. Jose Serrano sought his colleagues' bricks to build a monument that would honor immigrant contributions to the nation.

DeWine hasn't decided what to do with the bricks he's received.

Years ago, his office got hundreds of flying discs in the mail as part of a campaign organized by the Hooters restaurant chain. DeWine gave a stack of them to his children after removing paper decals that bore the racy chain's logo.

"They were pretty nice Frisbees, after you pulled the paper off," he said.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

seaton@plaind.com, 216-999-4212