Founder of Minuteman Project speaks to anti-illegal immigration supporters in Vegas
By ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press Writer

(Updated Sunday, May 29, 2005, 4:35 PM)


LAS VEGAS (AP) - The founder of the Minuteman Project rolled into the Sin City on Sunday.


Jim Gilchrist, however, didn't come to gamble or get a lap dance. He came to deliver his oft-repeated anti-illegal immigration message.

He also spelled out his version of hitting the jackpot: deport the millions of illegal aliens occupying the United States back to Mexico.

Send them back by plane or bus, give them money and do it civilly, he said.

"That's what I have in mind," Gilchrist told about 200 people who cheered him at the downtown Las Vegas convention center. He made his remarks on the final day of a summit titled "Unite to Fight Against Illegal Immigration." Gilchrist and other speakers, along with those attending the summit, warned that the United States was under assault. Every time a Mexican flag is planted on American soil, it's a declaration of war, Gilchrist said.

"If this isn't a declaration of war, I don't know what is," Gilchrist said.

During his 45-minute talk, Gilchrist said he was not a racist and his group was not exclusionary.

Gilchrist said it was the "Mexican clan, Mexican Nazis" who were the racists, targeting anyone who was not of their color.

Outside the convention center, about 150 people demonstrated against Gilchrist and the summit.

The mostly Hispanic protesters waved plenty of Mexican flags and used placards, bullhorns and air horns to get their message out.

"Racists, go home," they screamed.

Miguel Barrientos, president of the Las Vegas Mexican-American Political Association, said the people sopping up Gilchrist's rhetoric weren't protecting the country, they were harming it.

"They're creating division among Americans," he said. "We don't need it."

It appeared the two groups couldn't bridge their differences - at least not on Sunday. The continuous shouting was too loud and the words too raw.

"Good thing I was in the Marine Corp. to fight for this garbage," said Greg Holland, 33, a disabled veteran and local political activist. "I didn't fight for the Mexican flag, I fought for Old Glory."
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