Minutemen rally outside Issa's office

By: CRAIG TENBROECK - Staff Writer

VISTA ---- Members and supporters of the San Diego Minutemen gathered outside U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa's office Wednesday to protest any immigration reform that would include amnesty and guest worker programs for illegal immigrants.

Only a few demonstrators had arrived by the rally's noon start time. By 2 p.m. the number had increased to a dozen. Several waved American flags, others held up homemade signs.

"We're not here to protest Darrell Issa," said rally organizer Jeff Schwilk, wearing a matching baseball cap and T-shirt for the Minuteman Project, a national border watch group. "We're here to send a message to Congress through Darrell Issa."

Tina Jillings, representing a local Latino advocacy group called the Coalition for Justice, Peace and Dignity, also attended the rally to put a face on the opposition, she said.

"I just don't want them to have carte blanche in the city," she said of the Minutemen. "I don't want them to think they have no opposition."

Issa, who represents the 49th Congressional District, was traveling with a congressional delegation in Brazil on Wednesday, but Schwilk delivered a letter to the congressman's spokesman Frederick Hill. The letter stated the group's staunch opposition to amnesty and guest worker proposals.

It also pushed for increased border security and prosecution of employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

Hill thanked the demonstrators and said their letter would strengthen Issa's hand when he meets with congressional colleagues in the coming weeks.

Issa has pushed for stricter enforcement of immigration laws.

Asked by a reporter if the congressman supports guest worker programs, Hill said, "The devil is in the details for that."

What Issa does not want to see is a guest worker program that gives amnesty to those who have entered the country illegally or provides them with an advantage over people who have followed existing laws, Hill said.

Schwilk, a 42-year-old Oceanside resident, said the San Diego Minutemen organization is about 100-strong. The protest was scheduled to run from noon to 6 p.m., a length intended to show "we're dead serious about this," he said.

Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 631-6621 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.

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