Thread: Demonstrators protest outside Bush immigration speech in Irv

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Posted on Mon, Apr. 24, 2006

Demonstrators protest outside Bush immigration speech in Irvine

GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press

IRVINE, Calif. - Several hundred demonstrators from both sides of the immigration issue protested outside President Bush's speech Monday at an Orange County hotel.

With Congress returning from a two-week recess, the speech let Bush relaunch his proposal for a temporary guest worker program. It also gave a venue for protesters in a region where the immigration debate has become increasingly heated.

More than an hour before Bush arrived, protesters from the Minuteman Project - the volunteer border patrol group whose co-founder ran for Congress in Orange County - were chanting "Go back to Mexico" and "God Bless America."

Across a driveway, a cluster of demonstrators also chanted and waved peace signs to protest the Minuteman group, Bush's immigration policy and the war in Iraq. In all, there were about 250 protesters, split evenly between both sides.

The protest outside the Hyatt Regency Irvine illustrated a political divide in Washington, D.C., where lawmakers remain far apart on whether to crack down on illegal immigrants or embrace them as vital parts of the U.S. economy.

Bush, speaking to the Orange County Business Council at an invitation-only event, said he wants a law that will strengthen border security while giving temporary guest worker permits to illegal immigrants in low-paying jobs.

"It seems rational to me and logical to me to say, 'OK, fine, you can come and do a job Americans won't do for a temporary period of time with a tamperproof card,'" Bush said.

Barbara Coe, founder and chairwoman of the group California Coalition for Immigration Reform, was among demonstrators mingling with members of the Minuteman Project.

"Bush is a traitor to this country," Coe said. "I am terrified for the future of my country and my children. It is our hope that this treacherous amnesty bill will be defeated and our further hope that our borders will be secured and the lives of our people protected."

Ron Weller, 61, a retired warehouse worker from La Habra, said he voted for Bush in 2000 but voted Independent in 2004 because he wants a border fence.

"If a fence doesn't work then why does Bush have one around the White House?" Weller asked.

Nearby, anti-Minuteman demonstrators chanted "We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us."

Jim Luna, 40, a legal immigrant who came to the U.S. from Guatemala at 5, said he opposed Bush's policies and believes illegal immigrants are pawns for American corporations.

"They want the cheap labor and Mexico encourages it because they are getting money from all the illegals who send money back," Luna said.

Fellow protesters hoisted peace signs and placards reading, "Bush, stop denying the truth" and "Impeach Bush."

Marya Bangee, 19, was one of about 20 Muslin students from the University of California, Irvine who came to protest the president.

"We believe that he's the executor of unjust wars overseas," Bangee said. "We believe all people should be treated equally and this nation is made of immigrants."

There's some great pictures that a user posted from this recent protest.

Links to the pictures.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-24004.html