Thread: Rallies this weekend to call for increased U.S. border secur

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Rallies this weekend to call for increased U.S. border security

Daniel González
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 2, 2006 12:00 AM


The first of 6,000 National Guard soldiers requested by President Bush to help the Border Patrol shore up the porous Southwestern border are due to arrive later this month, but some border-security advocates say the added manpower won't be enough.

They plan to stage a rally Saturday near the Arizona border to demand that Bush and Congress do everything possible to stop undocumented immigrants from crossing illegally, including adding 10,000 more Border Patrol agents and building a wall along the entire 2,000-mile line with Mexico.

Border-security advocates also plan to stage rallies Saturday outside Mexican consulates in Phoenix and in cities in at least 18 other states to protest the Mexican government's failure to address the flow of undocumented immigrants to the United States.

The rallies come as a divided Congress faces the difficult challenge of reaching an election-year compromise on immigration reform and border-security legislation.

The Senate and House have passed sharply different versions.

The House version passed in December focuses only on enforcement. It would erect 700 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexican border at an estimated price of $2.2 billion. The House bill also would make undocumented immigrants subject to felony charges and calls for cracking down on employers who hire undocumented workers.

The Senate in May approved a $1.1 billion plan to fence roughly 370 miles of the international line, a move supported by the White House. Its plan would create a guest-worker program to allow more foreign workers to enter legally with temporary visas. It also would give millions of undocumented immigrants already living in the U.S. a chance at applying for legal residency and eventual citizenship, measures also supported by Bush.

Some border-security advocates reject both bills.

"Until we have out borders secure, it doesn't make sense to address immigration issues," said Karl Raszewski II, political director of the Ohio-based Standing on Secure Borders, a coalition of grass-roots groups coordinating Saturday's rallies.

The coalition hopes thousands of supporters will converge at 9 a.m. at the Palominas Trading Post in Palominas to join hands in a "symbolic gesture that Americans want their borders secured," Raszewski said.

Palominas is about four hours from Phoenix on Arizona 92, southeast of Sierra Vista near the Mexican border. The area is part of a major corridor for illegal immigration.

Phoenix car dealer Rusty Childress, founder of the group United for a Sovereign America, said Saturday's rallies show how grass-roots groups in favor of increased border enforcement are coming together and "speaking with one voice."

"We have one message: No amnesty. Secure our border," Childress said.

His group is helping sponsor a billboard to be erected today on the corner of 51st and Glendale avenues in northwest Phoenix that says, "Stop the invasion. Secure our borders."

More billboards are planned in states with senators who voted in favor of the Senate immigration bill, Childress said.

Arizona's two Republican senators split on the bill. John McCain voted in favor of the measure, while Jon Kyl, who is up for re-election, voted against it.



Reach the reporter at daniel.gonzalez@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8312.

The San Diego Minutemen group have two rallies taking place this weekend.