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Minutemen protest super highway from Mexico
WILLIAM PETROSKI
REGISTER STAFF WRITER


January 18, 2007
18 Comments



Four members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a border-watch group opposed to illegal immigration, picketed a state transportation conference in Des Moines Thursday, claiming it promoted a superhighway linking the U.S. with Mexico and Canada.

“This is going to take down our borders on the north and on the south,” said Minuteman Ron Duncan of Missouri Valley, who was among the protesters.

The picketers, carrying signs which read, “Stop the Superhighway” and “Say No to Illegal Aliens,” were set up outside the “Moving Iowa Forward” conference, sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation and Iowa Department of Economic Development at the downtown Embassy Suites Hotel.

The meeting’s purpose was a discussion of how Iowa’s trucking and railroad industries can be improved to strengthen Iowa’s economy, said Peggy Baer, director of the DOT’s Rail Division.

Baer said no presentations were scheduled at the day-long conference regarding plans for a proposed free-trade corridor along Interstate Highways 29, 35 and 94. But she acknowledged a notice about the Iowa meeting was posted on the Web site of the North American SuperCorridor Coalition, which is promoting the corridor. The Iowa DOT is a charter member of the coalition.

“This has brought a lot of concerns from a lot of people,” said Craig Halverson of Griswold, director of the Iowa Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. Others picketing said they fear the superhighway could lead to a merger of the U.S., Mexico and Canada that would lead to a loss of their rights of American citizenship.

Protesters have been especially worried about Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s endorsement of a proposed “Trans Texas Corridor,” which would include construction of a mega-highway parallel to I-35 within his state. The toll-road, twice the width of the existing interstate highway, is aimed at easing serious traffic congestion on existing I-35 through Texas.

Opponents believe the mega-highway will be extended through Iowa, taking thousands of acres of Iowa farmland, to improve highway connections between the U.S, Mexico and Canada. Iowa DOT officials said there are no such plans for a mega-highway in Iowa.