Thread: Protesters speak out against illegal immigration

http://news.newstimeslive.com/story.php ... gory=Local

Protesters speak out against illegal immigration
By John Pirro
THE NEWS-TIMES

DANBURY — Tom Manuel said he's not anti-immigrant.
"Immigrants made this country great," the Bethel man said after exchanging shouts with marchers who attended Sunday's rally for immigrant rights.

Manuel and several other protesters said they are against illegal immigration, and what they see as the refusal by many of those who have crossed into the United States to become part of America's melting pot.

"They don't have the respect for our flag, our culture and our language," Manuel said. "There is an arrogance that we have to adapt to their ways."

The less than 20 protesters were heavily outnumbered by those who walked through downtown Danbury in support of a mechanism for turning illegal immigrants into legal residents.

But that didn't stop the protesters from tossing heated words at the marchers, who responded by shouting "USA" and waving American flags.

"We don't want you," "If you did this in your country, they would shoot you," and "Go back to Spain," were some of the milder jabs aimed in their direction.

But orange-vested marshals quickly stepped in when a marcher stopped to confront a protester.

Pete Rodriguez, a longtime Danbury resident born in Puerto Rico, wore a Catholic War Veterans jacket as he yelled in Spanish, "Get out and take your flags with you."

Dressed in an "Uncle Sam" outfit, John McGowan of Bethel tore up a Mexican flag after the marchers passed.

"They don't belong here. We don't know where they come from or anything about the. They could be carrying diseases, and they don't make enough money. so they live like rats, 20 or 30 to a house. It makes a mess of the neighborhood and property values go down," McGowan said.

"They don't belong here if they didn't come here through the system," Barbara Keidel of Watertown said, contrasting the way illegal immigrants entered the country to her Sicilian-born mother's experience years ago.

"When my mother came here, they checked her eyes and her ears. I remember her telling me that her mother was panicked at the thought of them having dandruff in their hair," Keidel said.

Dressed in American flag garb from head to toe and waving an American flag at the marchers, 64-year-old Zeqir Berisha of Waterbury warned that some of those seeking rights for immigrants were being used as pawns by others with less honorable aims.

"I am not against the good people," said Berisha, who at one point stepped into the line of marchers to berate a woman who was letting the American flag she carried drag on the ground.

"Some of them are naive," Berisha said. "They don't know what is going on. They are being used for propaganda by al Qaida, the communists and people who want to bring this country down."


Contact John Pirro

at jpirro@newstimes.com

Pete Rodriguez, a longtime Danbury resident born in Puerto Rico, wore a Catholic War Veterans jacket as he yelled in Spanish, "Get out and take your flags with you."

it's not clear to me who he was talking to but it seems he was telling the illegals to "Get out and take your flags with you" in a language they could understand