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Border dispute comes to city
Minutemen's march against illegal immigration makes a stop here; opponents rally
BY JUAN ANTONIO LIZAMA
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Friday, May 12, 2006

About 100 people on a quest to bring awareness against illegal immigration stopped in Richmond last night on their way to the nation's capital.

A counter-protest group about half that size gathered on the opposite side of Ninth and Franklin streets for a war of words.

"Close the borders!" shouted members of the Minuteman Project group and local supporters.

"Minutemen, go home!" yelled the local group, organized by the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality.

The Minutemen launched a cross-country caravan May 3 to counter recent rallies across the country supporting illegal immigrants.

Since last year, the Minuteman Project, which claims to have about 1,000 members, has helped organize groups of civilians to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.

But the group has not been confined to the border. When a labor day center was approved in the Northern Virginia community of Herndon last year, the group protested it vigorously. The center was established for immigrants, some of them undocumented, to have a safe place to meet employers looking for temporary laborers.


Richmond was one stop on a 13-city journey across the country that will take the Minuteman Project to Washington today for a final rally at Upper Senate Park.

"We want to make the nation aware of the illegal alien invasion that is jeopardizing the future of America," said Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minutemen. "Why more political forces have not come forward has baffled a lot of Americans."

Gilchrist said he was seeing too many foreign flags being flown in neighborhoods and decided to create the Minutemen.

"Racists, go home!" counter-protesters shouted.

"If you really want to say we are segregationists, look at this!" Gilchrist yelled, hugging a black man and a Hispanic woman.

Gilchrist said his group has had many supporters join along the way and also has met many adversaries.

News reports indicate the Minutemen had difficulty finding a place for a rally Wednesday in Greensboro, N.C., and the event was nearly canceled because of a last-minute decision by a property owner to deny them a promised gathering point. The rally turned dicey with the Minutemen and counter-protesters almost clashing.

The location in Richmond, near the Capitol, was not finalized until late in the afternoon, and the rally was peaceful.

Counter-protesters came out waving signs, including a large one that said "Full Rights for Immigrants. Legalizaci?n Ahora!"

"A group like this shouldn't be allowed to come here without opposition," said Phil Wilayto of Defenders for Freedom, who had yelled over a megaphone that Richmond did not have a place for racists.

Richard Tharrington of Henrico County said he wants the government to deal with the illegal immigration issue.

"The federal government's job is to protect our borders," he said, "but it is not doing that for whatever reason."

Edward Crotzer, a retired engineer from Ashland, came to support the Minuteman group. His great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents went through the process of legalization, he said.

"I think everybody should stand in line like they did in Ellis Island," he said. "I think they should be examined. It's only fair."


Contact staff writer Juan Antonio Lizama at jlizama@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6513.