By CHRIS NICHOLS - Staff Writer
Saturday, November 15, 2008 10:53 PM PST

ESCONDIDO ---- About 200 people attended a candlelight vigil Saturday at Grape Day Park to protest the Escondido Police Department's use of driver's license checkpoints.

Rights activists, many from the Latino community, spoke out against the checkpoints, which they called unjust and a ploy to check immigration status.

"The intimidation has to stop ---- we all want peace," boomed the voice of Evi Quinn, a member of the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, as attendees held candles and formed a prayer circle in the park.

"There is no way we are going to stand by silently and not raise our voices for those who are oppressed," she said.

Escondido police say the checkpoints bolster traffic safety. They are not used to check immigration status, Escondido police Sgt. Doug Sams said.

"We do not do that," Sams added. "We are not immigration authorities. We don't care what their immigration status is. All we look for is their driver's license status and are they DUI drivers."

About 10 people held a counter-protest at the park.

Several were members of the Escondido Minuteman Brigade, an anti-illegal-immigrant group.

Despite a few heated words between the groups, there were no fights or arrests during the event, police said.

As vigil attendees walked south through the park, carrying candles and protest signs, a member of the Minuteman Brigade shouted his support for law enforcement.

"Thank you, EPD! Thank you, Border Patrol! Thank you, (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)! ---- you're number one!" he shouted, as Escondido police stood between the two groups.

Since the checkpoints started, hit-and-run collisions and drunken driving arrests have dropped in Escondido, Sams noted. He added that the checkpoints are conducted in all parts of the city.

Police contact immigration authorities only if a warrant requires them to, Sams said.

He cited a case at a September checkpoint, where an individual was arrested on an outstanding warrant for illegally re-entering the country after being deported.

Contact staff writer Chris Nichols at (760) 740-5426 or cnichols@nctimes.com

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/11 ... ogcomments