Thread: Immigration protest rolls in: 21st Century Paul Revere Rider

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... hicago-hed

Immigration protest rolls in
Cross-country motorcycle ride to protest illegal immigration is met by counterdemonstrators outside the Mexican Consulate in Chicago

By Jeff Long
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 9, 2006

Demonstrators on opposite ends of immigration reform taunted each other outside the Mexican Consulate in Chicago on Saturday, but the rallies remained mostly peaceful.

The 21st Century Paul Revere Riders, on a summerlong cross-country motorcycle ride advocating against illegal immigration, arrived in Chicago on Saturday afternoon and drew about two dozen supporters. The group, which is pushing for a fence to be built from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, and other measures to keep illegal immigrants out, was met by about 100 others countering its message.

Kept separate by police, the two groups waved signs and yelled at each other in front of the consulate building at 204 S. Ashland Ave.

The Paul Revere Riders want the government to do whatever it takes to stop people from crossing the border illegally, including ordering U.S. troops to the Mexican border, and to punish companies that hire undocumented workers.

They also demand drastic reductions in the number of people allowed to enter the U.S. legally.

"We are tired of being the collateral damage for this kind of invasion," said Frosty Wooldridge of Denver, an organizer of the ride that began May 29 in Colorado and is scheduled to end in Washington in August.

The only arrest was that of Thomas Buckley, 25, of the 2600 block of West Potomac Avenue, Chicago, charged with a misdemeanor count of criminal damage to property for allegedly puncturing the tire of someone demonstrating with the riders. There were no other incidents.

Marchers on both sides carried signs and American flags, yelled at each other through bullhorns, and chanted slogans.

"Open up the border," chanted one side. "Shut the racists down."

"No way, Jose!" responded members of the other group.

Lucas Sifuentes, 18, was among those protesting the riders. A freshman at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Sifuentes said his grandparents were illegal immigrants from Mexico.

"They wanted to come here to give themselves a better chance," he said. "When people want to stop them, it's absurd. America was founded on people coming over here to pursue a better way of life."

Brian Jacobsen, a member of the Chicago Minuteman Project, resents being called a racist. The group is affiliated with a controversial national group that patrols the U.S.-Mexico border to detect and report illegal immigrants.

Jacobsen said his group, with about 30 members in the Chicago area, supports laws that protect the nation's borders.

"I have no problem with immigrants," he said. "I'm a third-generation American."

But he said the problem is with those who cross the border illegally. He added that limiting legal immigration does not make him a racist, either.

"Can we not ask the question: How many immigrants best serve America?" he said. "We're not here to serve them."

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Good morning Pat.........what's really sad about the illegals is that they don't want to try to understand that ........yes, I can see anyone from a country like Mexico wanting to better themselves..........but the way they are going about it is destroying what they came here for and they are so blind to that fact and they don't care WHO they are hurting in the process by doing that. They call us racist because we down them for being here illegally............I'd rather be called racist than stupid and ignorant to the facts. We're racist because we want to keep what we worked so hard for......what's rightfully ours, not theirs............we're racist because they are stealing from us.......... but after they have destroyed what we have here..........what will be left for them?

I'd rather be called racist than stupid and ignorant to the facts.

NO, WE'RE NOT RACISTS!

We cannot let the pro-illegal side get to us by using the term 'racist'. That has been how US citizens have been made to feel guilty, under the mind control of being taught to be 'pc'. That's what's made us avoid talking about this issue. It's easier to avoid something 'not nice'.

Wanting to have our laws obeyed by EVERYONE, regardless of country of origin or race, AND that the majority of illegal aliens are Mexican, doesn't equal racism.

IMO, those always pulling the race card, IN SPITE OF FACTS, are the racists.

Other than the above, I agree with you. If our country gets ruined, how will we be able to help others?