http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/n ... 467218.htm

Posted on Sun, Apr. 30, 2006


Border Backers See Gains From Protests


Advocates for tougher border enforcement say past rallies around the United States have been good for recruiting.

Since the spring pro-immigrant demonstrations began, 300 people nationwide have applied to start local chapters of the Minuteman Project, a volunteer group that patrols the Mexico border, said Stephen Eichler, the group's executive director. The group hopes to have 500 chapters by the end of the year, he said.

William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC in Raleigh, said he's received a boost in support through e-mails and phone calls after every protest.

A new poll by the Civitas Institute, a Raleigh-based conservative think tank, found that 70 percent of N.C. voters believed the demonstrations were an attempt by "illegal immigrants to win rights to which they are not entitled."

However, the public seems to question what to do about the estimated 11.5 million to 12 million unauthorized immigrants. The Pew Hispanic Center reports that 53 percent say people in the U.S. illegally should be required to go home, while 40 percent say they should be granted some kind of legal status that allows them to stay here.


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Franco Ordoñez