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Group rallies against illegal immigration
Steve Timko (STIMKO@RGJ.COM)
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
June 14, 2006

About 40 people opposing illegal immigration rallied Tuesday on the steps of the state Capitol in Carson City with one speaker linking illegal immigration to increases in crime and diseases like tuberculosis.

Frosty Wooldridge of Denver warned of dire consequences from a huge surge in population caused by illegal immigration. Wooldridge blamed illegal immigration for increases in crime, for bringing diseases like tuberculosis and leprosy into the United States, for using up natural resources like water and energy and for fracturing society.

"We can no longer have these consequences," Wooldridge said at the rally. "We want National Guard troops on the borders. We want them shut down now."

Wooldridge is leader of a group calling itself the 21st Century Paul Revere Ride that wants to bring its warning about porous borders to 48 capitols in nine weeks. The handful of riders are making the trip on motorcycles and with a van. It started May 29 in Colorado.

Among those at the rally was John Wagner of Carson City, a Republican candidate for state Assembly District 40. In an interview after Wooldridge spoke, Wagner said he wants to stop illegal immigration.

"I hope the public realizes we have a very severe problem, and it's not going away," Wagner said.

Wagner believes the legislation approved by the U.S. Senate will only make the immigration problem worse. He proposed a $100 tax on every U.S. visitor to Mexico as a way to reduce tourism there and pressure the Mexican government to address the illegal immigration problem.

"We will stop the tax when they discourage the people from coming over," Wagner said.

Jake LaFleur of Carson City also attended in support of the rally, saying he was disappointed with the political reaction to the immigration issue.

"I think with professional politicians, the concept is self-corrupting," LaFleur said. "They do whatever it takes to be re-elected."

Plenty of laws are on the books to handle any problems with illegal aliens, LaFleur said. Just enforce the ones there, he said.

"They don't arrest illegal immigrants, and they don't arrest employers of illegal immigrants," he said.

No counterdemonstrators were at the rally in downtown Carson City.

Reached later by telephone, Jessie Gutierrez, executive director of Nevada Hispanic Services, called comments like those made by Wooldridge counterproductive.

"I think that's the extremist mentality who don't really know the facts about immigrants and the contributions they bring," Gutierrez said. "I think it's a racist mentality that they're talking about, and also the fear that some people have that the Hispanic community is growing the way it is."

Carlos Romo, director of equity and diversity at Truckee Meadows Community College, said the immigration issue calls for education and not emotional rhetoric. Tourists are just as likely to bring disease into the United States as immigrants, Romo said by phone.

"If they can back something like that up scientifically and show (immigrants) bring disease, let them do it," Romo said. "I don't think they can do it."

As for Wagner's suggestion for a tourism tax, Romo said $100 is of little consequence to people vacationing in Mexico.

"Immigrants, if they're from Mexico or Canada or China, they're part of our fabric," Romo said. "We can't really blame the problems on them."