Thread: 'Let them stay': Anti-illegal alien rally organizer changes

'Let them stay': Anti-illegal alien rally organizer changes his stand
Former Mount Olive man says he was caught in'ultraconservative fervor'

By ROB JENNINGS • Gannett News Service • July 16, 2008

MORRISTOWN — The former Mount Olive resident who organized an anti-illegal immigration rally headlined by Mayor Donald Cresitello in 2007 now says he regrets holding the event and no longer supports a crackdown.

Robb Pearson, who previously endorsed Cresitello's call to deputize local police for federal immigration enforcement, said he underwent a personal evolution after a "rapid financial decline" and other hardships led him to relocate to Muhlenberg, Pa.

"If I had the mindset as I have now, I never would have had the rally," Pearson said. He explained that his own challenges had given him greater empathy.

"I was caught up in the ultraconservative fervor that surrounds the illegal immigration camp," Pearson said.

"I think we should let them stay," Pearson added of those in the United States illegally.

Pearson's July 28 rally near town hall drew hundreds of people, including a counter-protest in support of all immigrants.

Cresitello, who accepted an invitation from Pearson to speak, was jeered by counter-protesters and responded by deriding them as communists and Marxists.

Shortly afterward, Pearson wrote a letter to the Daily Record thanking Cresitello and vowing to press on against illegal immigration.

"I thank Mayor Donald Cresitello for his boldness in standing up against illegal immigration and in seeking to uphold the American rule of law," Pearson wrote at the time. "I give you a promise: This is only the beginning."

Pearson said he now believes that "prejudice or political expediency" motivates politicians -- including Cresitello -- to speak out against illegal immigration.

"They're not really about solutions. They're about building rifts. I was part of that, unwittingly or otherwise," Pearson said.

"I think people have risen to the banner of 287g for the purpose of scapegoating," Pearson said, referring to the federal program aimed at using local police to pursue immigration violations.

Reached for comment on Tuesday, Cresitello said he advised Pearson not to hold the rally. He said he agreed to speak at the event only because some of the mayor's supporters were in attendance.

"This was his idea, and no one else's. In the end, everybody decided to do it so that (Pearson) wasn't embarrassed," Cresitello said.

Cresitello said it was wrong for Pearson to impugn his motives.

"I'm strictly about law enforcement. There's no scapegoating," Cresitello said.

"I don't want people jumping their visas. That's all ethnic groups. To me, it's about homeland security," Cresitello said.

The co-founder of immigrant help group Wind of the Spirit, Diana Mejia -- who was forcibly removed by sheriff's officers from the 2007 rally as she carried a sign reading, 'No human being is illegal' -- said she wasn't sure what to make of Pearson's transformation.

"It's good he has the opportunity to express his feelings," Mejia said.

On Tuesday, Pearson acknowledged that he had made an almost complete turn in a year.

"To say I'm in a much radically different place would be an understatement," Pearson said.

"I was caught up in the belief ... that rule of law was absolute. It was sacrosanct. Anyone who willfully violated the rule of law should be prosecuted. It was very easy for me to pick on people from other countries," Pearson said.
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I have more respect for some of the amnesty supporters than for people who argue against it for the wrong reason. I oppose the amnesty supporters but someone who is mindless who opposes an amnesty is not the best ally. I think that this man Pearson is flakey. I think that it is good Morristown had a protest against illegal immigration but that the movement is better without Robb Pearson.