http://www.marinij.com/ci_5537057?source=rss

Minuteman group backs Marin raids on illegals
Richard Halstead
Article Launched: 03/28/2007 01:03:48 AM PDT

The Golden Gate Minuteman Project, a political network staunchly opposed to immigrants entering the United States illegally, will rally in downtown San Rafael on Saturday to demonstrate support for immigration raids in Marin earlier this month.

"We're coming out to support the immigration law enforcement," said Charles Birkman, a spokesman for the project, which has chapters in Fremont, Redwood City and Alameda.

Agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the largest investigative branch of the Department of Homeland Security, arrested 65 people and deported 23 in raids conducted on March 6 and 7 in San Rafael and Novato.

ICE agents had warrants for some of those they arrested in their homes during pre-dawn hours. Others were arrested because they were at the same location and could not provide proof of citizenship. It was several days before ICE would say exactly how many people had been arrested or where they had been taken.

Birkman said the rally is also designed to express opposition to the city of San Rafael's "sanctuary city" status. More than 50 cities throughout the country - including San Francisco and Berkeley - have passed resolutions stating they will not assist ICE in making its arrests. But Lydia
Advertisement
Romero, a spokeswoman for the city of San Rafael, said no such resolution has been adopted in San Rafael.

However, San Rafael officials have said they would not assist in the ICE raids.

"The city of San Rafael will not enforce immigration laws," Mayor Al Boro said at a community forum earlier this month.

The Golden Gate Minuteman Project is aligned with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, whose citizen members began patrolling the Arizona-Mexico border in 2003. Project members will stand on the sidewalk at the intersection of Second Street and Lindaro Street and display signs and flags, Birkman said. Fifty to 100 people have turned out at similar rallies in Santa Clara, Fremont, Redwood City and Castro Valley.

"For us, that's a good turnout," Birkman said. "People who support law enforcement tend not to attend rallies. They prefer voting their conscience at the ballot box."

Several arrests were made during a Fremont rally when people who disagreed with the Minutemen's point of view became violent. But Birkman expects no trouble Saturday.

"We've seen the left in Marin and they're law abiding, sincere progressives," Birkman said. "We're going out there to meet neighbors and exercise our free speech."

Many people who support immigration enforcement are afraid to say so, he said. "They worry about repercussions in their own neighborhoods," Birkman said.

He said the Minutemen's long-range goal is to get Bay Area cities to adopt laws similar to those passed in Hazelton, Pa. City Council members there adopted a measure that fines landlords for renting to undocumented immigrants and punishes employers for hiring them.

"It's so-called cheap labor but it's really subsidized labor because they're not paid enough to pay for their health care, and that's passed along to the rest of society," said Birkman, a former construction worker who earns his living assembling radar equipment in Livermore.

"A lot of our people are carpenters, construction workers and truckers," Birkman said.

Tom Wilson - director of Canal Alliance, which provides a variety of services to Marin's largest immigrant community - said "I don't think they're going to draw a huge crowd."

After the raids, an estimated 200 people gathered in downtown San Rafael to protest the ICE arrests. They marched to Pickleweed Park Community Center where an audience of more than 500 gathered to hear from elected leaders, activists and community leaders.

Wilson expressed his disappointment regarding the Minutemen's sentiments. "I'd like to think if people really knew what it did to the kids, and how people are torn apart by all this, that people would have a different view," Wilson said.