Thread: FLIMEN Florida Minutemen Protest In Tampa TODAY

From: "FLIMEN" <alert@flimen.org> Add to Address Book
Date: 2006/05/01 Mon AM 08:05:44 EDT
Subject: ANTI-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION PROTEST IN TAMPA TODAY, MAY 1

Floridians for Immigration Enforcement

www.FLIMEN.org


ANTI-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION PROTEST IN TAMPA TODAY, MAY 1

The protest is being organized by FL Minutemen and this notice
is a courtesy of FLIMEN.

Further request from FL Minutemen:

If you can call into talk radio and make the following points:

The FL Minutemen are conducting a major counter protest in Tampa
That listeners can find out how to join this rally by visiting www.MinutemenFlorida.com The callers must be careful to emphasize that this the first word in the URL is Minute MEN and not MinuteMAN. A slip of the lip will send potential volunteers to limbo.
That the Minutemen are providing printed signs
That Spanish talk radio is instrumental in mobilizing and organizing the illegals. Thank them for helping to level the playing field.
We need callers to work the talk radio stations Saturday night, Sunday night, and Monday morning.

PS: FLIMEN only learned of this protest early Monday AM, otherwise advance notice would have been made.

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The article below states "Henry Saavedra, the authority's executive director, said he allowed a half-price discount, to $3,000."
Assuming the sports authority is a taxpayer funded operation, then your taxes are subsidizing the pro-illegal immigration protest!

http://news.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBXQYFPFME.html

Migrant Workers, Allies To Rally
Skip directly to the full story.
By CHRIS ECHEGARAY cechegaray@tampatrib.com

Published: Apr 25, 2006


TAMPA - The protest will go on.
Immigrants - legal and illegal - and their supporters will take to Dale Mabry Highway and Columbus Drive on Monday.

Organizers are expecting 10,000 to 20,000 people for the demonstration, part of a day of activism whose participants will stage a job and school walkout and abstain from buying or selling anything.

Immigrants United for Freedom raised $3,000, with donations from small businesses, to lease parking space at Raymond James Stadium from the Tampa Sports Authority. They are raising an additional $2,000 for portable toilets and liability insurance as part of the TSA requirement.

Organizers say the day of protest will demonstrate that illegal immigrants are the backbone of the service industry. The local protest will coincide with a nationwide demonstration. The official state protest will be in Orlando, but local organizers felt strongly about holding one in Tampa, too.

The plans come as U.S. Senate leaders resume work this week on immigration legislation that has divided Congress. Some members want to scale back a comprehensive immigration reform bill that places immigrants on a path to citizenship.

Those attending the march in Tampa will include U.S. citizens and illegal immigrants, said Blanca Gonzalez, president of Immigrants United for Freedom. Recent federal crackdowns on employers who hire illegal immigrants will not keep them away, she said.

"They are not backing off at all," Gonzalez said. "They live with fear every day."

Many U.S. citizens supporting comprehensive reform can make a difference by registering to vote, she said. They can do so during the march.

"We are going [to] register people because there's a lot of Latinos not registered who can vote, and they are very important," she said.

With questions about funding, there was doubt Tampa could organize a protest. The chairman of the sports authority, Patrick Manteiga, played a role in moving the effort forward.

Manteiga owns La Gaceta, an English-Spanish-Italian newspaper that supports immigration reform and the protests. Manteiga made a motion at the authority's last meeting to lease the four Raymond James lots to organizers of the protest for $1,000. The authority usually charges $1,500 per lot.

The motion died, but the group got a discount.

The authority has discounted the lots before, when the city sponsored a beautification project nearby. The authority also gives discounts to nonprofit groups, Manteiga said.

Henry Saavedra, the authority's executive director, said he allowed a half-price discount, to $3,000.

Immigrants United for Freedom organizers are meeting with the Tampa Police Department this morning to go over logistics. In a rally held April 10, protesters marched around the block at Dale Mabry.

Organizers say that if they don't get liability insurance, they will hold the protest across the street. Regardless, the protest will go on, they say.

PROTEST
WHEN: Noon to 4 p.m. Monday

WHERE: Dale Mabry Highway and Columbus Drive


FLIMEN
P.O. Box 4207
Hialeah, FL 33014




May 1, 2006

This will also be posted above in the Protest Events and Rallies Schedule .