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Minutemen plan meeting in Elgin, rally in Batavia

By Andre Salles
Staff Writer

The Illinois Minuteman Project has scheduled the weekend of Feb. 25 for its next Fox Valley meeting.

The Minutemen will convene at The Centre of Elgin, at 100 Symphony Way, on Feb. 25, seeking members for its fledgling Fox Valley chapter. The meeting, which goes by the title "No Amnesty," will discuss reforming the immigration system, both locally and nationally.

The next day, the Minutemen plan to rally in front of U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office in Batavia, to show their support for a House bill that would make illegal immigrants guilty of a federal crime and would fine companies that hire them.

"I think people are becoming more disgusted with illegal immigration," said Rosanna Pulido, head of the Illinois Minuteman Project. "I'm thankful that people are getting off the couch and taking back their country."

The Illinois Minuteman Project is the local offshoot of the nationwide Minutemen, created in 2004 by Californian Jim Gilchrist.
That organization's volunteers set up an unofficial patrol along the Arizona-Mexico border last year, armed with binoculars and cell phones, reporting suspected illegal immigrants to police and immigration services.

Since then, the Minuteman Project has grown, and volunteer groups have sprung up in several states, amid charges of racism and xenophobia.

The meeting on the 25th will focus on opposing worker , which Pulido says contributes to the loss of jobs for American workers. The speaker will be Susan Tully, the national director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, based in Washington, D.C.

Pulido has invited Elgin Mayor Ed Schock and the Elgin City Council, state Sen. Chris Lauzen and other local officials to the meeting. She expects nearly 200 people to attend.



Met before in Elgin


This is not the first time the Minutemen have chosen Elgin as a meeting place. On Nov. 10, the IMP held an organizational meeting at the Elgin American Legion, and was met with protesters. Elgin police called in other local departments to help keep the peace.
The protest was considered peaceful, and no arrests were made, according to police.

A subsequently planned meeting in Kendall County that same month was scrapped after American Legion halls in both Oswego and Yorkville denied the Minutemen use of their facilities.

Pulido fully understands why some may protest the meeting, and expects that it will happen again.

"Of course they're concerned," she said, "because we're on the verge of taking away free health care, schools and services for illegals. Of course these people will be angry."

02/16/06