Thread: Anti-illegal immigration groups rally against bill (pics)

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Anti-illegal immigration groups rally against bill
Rallies at the Nixon Library and Huntington Beach pier draw supporters.
By NORBERTO SANTANA Jr. and ERIKA I. RITCHIE
The Orange County Register

One after another, the speakers at the podium declared that the United States is on the verge of a civil war.

"This is your culture," said presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. "Fight for it."

Tancredo spoke to hundreds of supporters Saturday night at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, asking them to keep vigil over an immigration bill expected to be debated this week in the U.S. Senate.

Congressional leaders have been working for weeks to broker a deal that could potentially offer some sort of legalization plan for millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

And that shook the crowd at the Nixon library to its core.

"This bill cannot pass," Tancredo declared. "It will mean the tipping point has been passed."

Terming the current legislation the "no-illegal alien left behind act," Tancredo told supporters they needed to flood Capitol Hill with phone calls and e-mails to stave off any sort of legislation.

Supporters, like Joe Turner who heads the organization Save Our State, also told the audience that "the preservation of Western civilization" depended on curbing illegal immigration.

Most speakers rallied against multi-culturalism and what they called "the illegal alien invasion."

Jeannie Goodin, a leader of the Eagle Forum, said only a candidate like Tancredo could stem the rising tide against American values brought by illegal immigration.

"He will return America to its God-ordained foundation," she said.

Lupe Moreno, who recently ran a brief campaign for a local supervisors seat, told the crowd of about 200 that massive deportations of undocumented immigrants should be stepped up.

"Deportation. Yes we can," said Moreno, mimicking a decades-old chant in Spanish from the farm workers movement to a standing ovation.

Earlier in the day, Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, R-Huntington Beach, and about 30 people from the Minuteman Project and the Fire Coalition on Saturday protested the resurrection of the Senate Immigration bill and demanded the release of two Border Patrol agents held in a Mississippi jail.

"The next president, who wants my vote, will have to give a pardon to Ramos and Compean. This is betrayal by America." Rohrbacher told the crowd near the Huntington Beach pier.

Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean are serving prison sentences for shooting a Mexican illegal-immigrant drug smuggler north of El Paso, Texas. Since their imprisonment 28 months ago, there have been repeated efforts to get them pardoned.

Rohrbacher asked Americans of all ethnicities to urge the Senate and their congressmen to prevent the passage of the immigration bill. The bill includes increased enforcement, a new temporary-worker program and a plan to legalize an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.

"We won a great victory this week when the Senate had to pull back on the immigration bill," he said. "This (next) week they're coming back. We've got to block their attempt to legalize this. The patriots will save America, despite the president and the Congress."

The protest drew the attention of beach-goers, vacationers and motorists.

"We came here for the beach but stayed for the protest," said Jonathan Price, 17, from Arcadia.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2221 or nsantana@ocregister.com


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"The next president, who wants my vote, will have to give a pardon to Ramos and Compean. This is betrayal by America." Rohrbacher told the crowd near the Huntington Beach pier.

Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean are serving prison sentences for shooting a Mexican illegal-immigrant drug smuggler north of El Paso, Texas. Since their imprisonment 28 months ago, there have been repeated efforts to get them pardoned.

Presidential candidate Duncan Hunter has said, if elected President, he will immediately pardan Ramos and Campean.