Thread: Billboards the latest venue for immigration debate

[June 14, 2006]


Billboards the latest venue for immigration debate

(Orlando Sentinel, The (FL) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) ORLANDO, Fla. _ Billboards calling for Americans to "Stop the Invasion" of illegal immigrants have popped up along major highways across the country.

With passions running high on both sides of the immigration debate, some groups are generating media attention by advertising their opinions on billboards and bus shelters as well as on the Internet.

Right now, the biggest push is coming from Grassfire.org, an online conservative grass-roots organization headquartered in Iowa, which erected such a billboard along Interstate 95 in Miami and has placed similar signs in Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix and Los Angeles. The group says it plans to target other cities.


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Ron De Jong, the group's spokesman, said Grassfire.org is considering placing a second billboard in Florida, perhaps along the Interstate 4 corridor, because of the strong support generated by the Miami billboard.

"We are rapidly expanding the campaign and the chances of placing another sign in Florida are very strong, but we are not sure of the schedule," De Jong said. "We want people to understand that we are not anti-immigrant. We support legal immigration but not the flood of illegal immigration, which has become a serious problem."

De Jong would not divulge the cost of the billboard, but advertising companies estimate that a billboard the size of the one placed by Grassfire.com _ about 14 by 48 feet _ could run between $5,000 and $15,000 per month, depending on the location.

A similar conservative group, BillboardColorado.us, made up of war veterans and members of other organizations opposed to illegal immigration, launched billboards in New Mexico and Colorado that feature three U.S.-labeled soldiers' helmets on rifles planted bayonet-first in an image of the United States. Their message: "Mr. President. They Didn't Die for Open Borders."

Another billboard displays the message "Welcome to Sanctuary City. Relax, you made it!" The sanctuary reference is to a defunct Denver ordinance that prohibited police from using local resources on federal enforcement issues such as immigration.

Mike McGarry, the spokesman for Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, or CAIR, and a member of BillboardColorado.us, said the billboards serve an educational purpose.

"We want to bring attention to this travesty. U.S. veterans are being turned away from medical help, while illegals are being tendered services," McGarry said. "We have created a sanctuary for them."

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McGarry could not confirm whether that billboard campaign will reach Central Florida but said, "We have friends in Florida, and people there are very aware of our campaign."

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Immigration experts find the billboards far from educational.

Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center in Miami, says the billboards are unwelcoming.

"Immigrants here are very concerned about these messages and the anti-immigrant sentiment the billboards generate and fuel," Little said.

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The director of the advocacy center is not surprised by the billboards or the possibility that the campaigns might expand to Central Florida because of the area's immigrant community.

More than 14 percent of metro Orlando residents are Mexican or of Mexican descent, and about 5 percent are Cuban, according to the latest census figures.

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Little fears that immigrants, who recently have taken to the streets of Miami, Orlando and other cities across the country to support immigration-reform proposals that would create a path to citizenship and to oppose more punitive measures, will be frightened into seclusion.

"They (immigrants) are being driven further underground for fear of retaliation, deportation and raids by immigration-enforcement officials," Little said.

Other immigration experts say the inflammatory language and images of war depicted in the billboards are misleading the public.

"Using rhetoric such as `invasion' and `sanctuary' and evoking the images of combat is not responsible public opinion," said Jeanne Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "It does a disservice to groups who are trying to keep an open discussion and consider solutions."

So far, forces opposed to illegal immigration have dominated the billboard and online campaigns, but at least one group is launching a push on the other side of the issue.

MATT.org, a Texas-based online and bilingual-advertising campaign, offers a departure from the tough talk by asking Americans to participate in an online dialogue about relations between Mexico and the United States.

This organization's billboards, which have been placed in San Antonio and San Jose, Calif., simply read "Mexicans and Americans: Thinking Together" and "Mexicans and Americans: Finding Solutions" among other messages.

Spearheading this project is Lionel Sosa, a second-generation Mexican-American and retired advertising executive whose goal is to shift the debate to ways the countries can peacefully solve their problems.

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"We want the billboards and online forums to generate ideas that perhaps Congress has not considered, so we can find realistic and logical solutions," Sosa said. "We would consider placing another billboard in Florida, but these signs are very expensive. Right now, we're going to focus on states with larger Mexican populations."

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(c) 2006, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

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This organization's billboards, which have been placed in San Antonio and San Jose, Calif., simply read "Mexicans and Americans: Thinking Together" and "Mexicans and Americans: Finding Solutions" among other messages.

There is a problem with the people who think up these messages...their agenda is deception.

You know what? I do not want to think up logical, reasonable solutions to please them.

This is my country, D**N it and I do not want to share it will illegals or support them.