http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_113230608.html

Apr 23, 2006 6:02 pm US/Pacific

African American Groups Join Immigration Debate

(CBS) LOS ANGELES Leimert Park was the location as pro- and anti-illegal immigration activists faced off against each other.

Black homeless advocate Ted Hayes, who said most homeless people in Los Angeles are black and that illegal immigration compounds the problem, organized the anti-illegal immigration rally.

"And that's one reason why black people are living homeless in the condition that we are living in right now, because we refuse to work for slave wages," he said.

Hayes said he supports legal immigrants, but resents the fact that immigration activists compare their movement to the black civil rights movement. He said they should wage their fight south of the border.

Members of his Crispus Attucks Brigade, the American Black Citizens Opposed to Illegal Immigration Invasion, and at least one member of the Minuteman Project joined him.

Police estimated the crowd at about 150 people.