http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/03 ... 3_8_06.txt

Foes of illegal immigration target Fallbrook site

By: MELANIE MARSHALL and JO MORELAND - Staff Writer

FALLBROOK ---- Continuing to target North County sites where day laborers gather, a handful of opponents of illegal immigration showed up early Wednesday at the corner of Stagecoach Lane and East Alvarado Street to photograph would-be workers and those who hire them.

Fallbrook activist Ray Carney said that he, along with four volunteers from the San Diego Minutemen, brought a single protest sign and cameras to a vacant lot a few blocks away from Frazier Elementary School to "shut down" the hiring of workers who Carney alleges are predominately illegal.

Carney said the photographs would be posted on Web sites calling for tougher enforcement of immigration laws.

A larger protest targeting a popular day-laborer site in Vista was held several weeks ago and drew hundreds of demonstrators on both sides of the immigration issue.

Carney said that he organized the Fallbrook protest after asking the Fallbrook Sheriff's Station last week to crack down on the roughly three dozen workers who gather at the site each day.

Sheriff's Department officials said that although the hiring site has been a concern in the community in the past, it hasn't been a problem area for a while, and there were no problems reported from Wednesday's protest.

"It was peaceful and respectful on our part," Carney said. "We had a few people that came up to us and didn't like what we were doing ---- one lady was yelling vulgarities at us from her car ---- but we did not respond other than to say 'that's your opinion.' "

Tina Jillings, co-founder of the Coalition for Peace, Justice and Dignity ---- a civil rights and Latino advocacy group ---- said organizations such as the Minuteman Project are targeting day-laborer sites simply to advance an agenda of racism.

"They don't have any concrete information that these day laborers are illegal immigrants ---- they're making that assumption based on brown skin color," Jillings said. "We're very familiar with their method of operation."

The Minuteman Project seeks stronger enforcement of U.S. immigration laws and gained notoriety last year by organizing its own patrols of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Carney said Wednesday he is an independent activist, not affiliated with any particular anti-immigration group, who began participating in Minutemen type of rallies after growing frustrated that the hiring of illegal immigrants was going unchecked.

"We need to solve this problem ---- it's getting to the point where it's epidemic," Carney said of the workers who gather at spots throughout North County seeking jobs. "We're tired and we're saying, 'enough.' "

Fallbrook sheriff's detective Sgt. Rich Hendrickson said deputies were aware that anti-immigration activists might appear at the Alvarado Street site and had been monitoring the area to make sure problems did not arise. He said Wednesday morning that the Sheriff's Department did not receive any calls about the protest.

"It seems to be very low-key," Hendrickson said.

Tracy Jenkins, a neighbor who has lived near the vacant lot since 1958, said Wednesday that she noticed a protest sign but saw no signs of a conflict. She said she has never been bothered by the men who gather at the corner lot to wait for work.

"I've seen the Border Patrol over there a lot of times, and only once did they have a man in the back of the car, so I assumed they (the workers) were all legal," she said. "They should be legal, I think."

Border Patrol spokesman Agent Nicholas Coates said the agency does not regularly check hiring sites to make sure workers are in the country legally.

"Many of these individuals probably could be here legally," Coates said.

Staff writer Tom Pfingsten contributed to this report.