MURRIETA: Bus blockade's anniversary marked by speeches, shouting

Illegal immigration opponents rally at the Border Patrol station, while immigrant rights supporters gathered outside the library.
Border Patrol protesters sue Murrieta, Riverside County (June 30, 2015)



A heckler confronts an Immigrant rights activist during a rally at Town Square Park in Murrieta Wednesday afternoon, July 1, 2015. It was the one-year anniversary of a confrontation between activists at the US Border Patrol station in Murrieta.
TOM KELSEY, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

BY ALEJANDRA MOLINA / STAFF WRITER

Published: July 1, 2015 Updated: 11:29 p.m.

Tensions rose again in Murrieta on Wednesday, July 1, as anti-illegal immigration demonstrators and pro-migrant activists marked the anniversary of when protesters stopped buses filled with migrant families from entering the Murrieta Border Patrol station.

Two separate gatherings were held -- a pro-Border Patrol rally in the morning and a pro-migrant event in the early afternoon -- but some activists against illegal immigration disrupted the afternoon rally by shouting insults, some obscene, during speeches by organizers of that event.

Behind yellow tape, the immigration activists also yelled, “Illegal aliens,” and, “You're all a bunch of freeloaders.”

The anniversary events started around 10 a.m. when about 30 anti-illegal immigration activists gathered outside the Murrieta Border Patrol station to show their support for the federal agency, and to celebrate what Murrieta resident William Satmary called last year’s “successful grassroots effort” in stopping the buses.

“We call that a victory,” said Satmary, who participated in the blockade last year. “It was heard throughout the country, and Murrieta was known as the flash point of the immigration debate and we're kind of proud of that,” he said.

Robin Hvidston with We the People Rising, who participated in last year’s protests, said they were simply expressing their viewpoint to the government. Hvidston was outside the Murrieta Border Patrol station Wednesday morning to support Border Patrol agents.

“We're law abiding citizens. That was our message that day,” Hvidston said. “We respect our law officers and what the government was doing was extremely inappropriate.”

Others, though, said the bus blockade shed a negative image on Murrieta.

Mark Lane, who helped organize Wednesday afternoon’s pro-migrant rally at Town Square Park, said last year’s protests revealed “the worst of what our country had to offer.”

“It's important that we don't walk away from that display of hate toward the kids and the women,” said Lane. “If we let these guys win, we lose.”

Lane said the anti-illegal immigration protests spurred more local activism in support of the migrant families.

The 2014 protest came amid a spike in the number of migrants from Central America who were crossing the border into the U.S., many of whom were trying to escape severe gang and drug violence, and some who heard rumors that children are eligible for legal residency in the U.S.

The flood of migrants being captured in south Texas was more than facilities there could handle, so some were sent to other locations to be processed, including Murrieta.

A year ago, the nation watched the Murrieta turmoil on social media and news broadcasts as demonstrators blocked the buses. Days of protests followed with those on both sides of the issue loudly squaring off.

Things got heated Wednesday afternoon when about 15 people from the morning Border Patrol rally, showed up at the pro-migrant rally, where about 70 immigration supporters were gathered for their three-hour event.
http://www.pe.com/articles/patrol-77...-murrieta.html