Thread: Hundreds gather in Santa Clara to protest illegal immigratio

http://cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/b ... s_bcn_html

Some blathering bloviating by a La Raza goon who came out to counter-protest - she was incensed that the anti-illegal immigration protestors "had the audacity to congregate on this day" (Cinco de Mayo)

HUNDREDS GATHER TO PROTEST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
05/05/06 6:50 PDT
SANTA CLARA (BCN)

The massive immigrants rights protests that raged nationwide Monday stood in stark contrast to the muted anti-illegal immigrant demonstration attended by nearly 200 people in Santa Clara today.

Looking more like a picnic gathering with a few dozen people lining Kiely Boulevard at Central Park with protest signs, the rally nonetheless had its moments of heated debate.

"We are the indigenous people of this land. This is stolen land," local La Raza representative Quetzaoceloacina, who came with a dozen people to counter the anti-illegal immigrant protesters, said today. "You are the ones who are illegal aliens," she told a demonstrator who begged the difference before the two were separated by a police officer.

Organizers of the "National Anti-Illegal Immigrant Protest Rally Days" planned the event to coincide with Cinco de Mayo, the day in 1862 when Mexican soldiers expelled the French after a five-month occupation. The battle has since become a symbol of Mexico's independence. The scheduling was done to "send a strong message of opposition to all Mexican illegal immigrants and their supporters," according to the organizer's Web site.

Quetzaoceloacina said the timing further strengthened her resolve to come out and protest simultaneously.

"They have the audacity to congregate on this day," she said. "So it is our responsibility to come out here and protest against them because they represent racism, they represent white nationalism and they are the ones who've been checking our people as we cross the military border that has divided our nation."

Increased border security and deportation of undocumented immigrants were big on the demonstrators' list of ideas for what needs to be done about some 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants nationwide.

"We're outraged about their defiance of the laws that we have," Alan Hall, 41, of San Jose, said today. "What we want isn't much -- secure borders. We want people who are here to belong here. People who are legal citizens who have gone through the legal process, those are the people we want in this country. What we are opposed to is the illegal invasion of our country."

Several demonstrators said illegal immigration poses too great a burden on social services, including public education and health care.

"They are certainly a burden on the health care industry and a burden on the schools because they require so much of the teachers' time," a Santa Clara County public elementary school teacher, who asked to remain anonymous because of her job, said. "By the third grade, they are seeing the ESL teacher, the resource teacher, the speech pathologist, the school psychologist. And when there is a meeting between the parents and the teacher, should the parents even come, the school has to hire an interpreter. This costs a whole lot of money for kids whose parents seem to think it's OK for them to drop out of school eventually because they are not helping their children to succeed."

The San Jose teacher added that she felt "bad" about voicing her concerns because she is "a caring, loving person," and because her job could be at stake for speaking what she believes.

"I literally was going to wear a bag over my head because if I am identified, my principal will not be a happy lady," she said.

Others worried that giving amnesty to the undocumented workers living in the United States would send the wrong message to others hoping to come to this country.

"It takes a little time" to enter legally, Rachel Barker, 65, of Sunnyvale, said. She added, however, that the legal process is necessary to control immigration. Her husband, Geoff Barker, 68, of Sunnyvale, added that following immigration laws "is a question of fairness."

"I'm an immigrant myself," he said. "When I came out here in 1967 I had to have a job to come to. I had to go through the American Embassy and have medical tests and X-rays. There were all kinds of paper work to fill out."

Barker said that granting amnesty to immigrants who entered illegally would be a blow to those, like him, who went through the burdensome procedures of obtaining legal visas.

Quetzaoceloacina disagreed, saying all immigrants should enjoy the same rights, whether they have papers or not.

"Our traditions, our culture, our diet, everything is throughout this continent," she said. "We've been traveling here for thousands and thousands of years and we've left all of our creativity here. And now they have the audacity to say we're illegal aliens? I don't think so."

The U.S. Senate has resumed debate on the immigration issue, which came to a standstill about a month ago. Senate leaders are now reconsidering a hotly contested bill that could open up a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented workers. The Senate earlier this year rejected a bill passed by the House of Representatives in December that would make it a felony to live and stay illegally in the United States and would criminalize those who helped undocumented immigrants. That bill ignited some of the largest street protests the nation has seen in decades.

Originally Posted by MopheadBlue

http://cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2006/05/05/n/HeadlineNews/ANTI-ILLEGALRALLY/resources_bcn_html

Some blathering bloviating by a La Raza goon who came out to counter-protest - she was incensed that the anti-illegal immigration protestors "had the audacity to congregate on this day" (Cinco de Mayo)

Oh Boo Hoo!!! But they have the 'audacity' to protest in our streets when they don't even belong here?!! So sick of their same old story "this is stolen land..." blah blah blah

"They have the audacity to congregate on this day," she said. "So it is our responsibility to come out here and protest against them because they represent racism, they represent white nationalism and they are the ones who've been checking our people as we cross the military border that has divided our nation

This day? It's a MEXICAN holiday not an AMERICAN one. And see.....no one has bothered their rallys and they simply cannot give what it is they DEMAND. They make me sick.

They have left all their creativity here?? They must have left it somewhere else. I don't know of a thing Mexico or Mexicans have contributed to this world other than a string of kids that they can't support without the help of OUR government.

MJ

PS IF you know of something that Mexico has created or contributed other than drug lords please let me know.