Protesters Emerge On Maryland Immigrant Worker Site posted 6:47 pm Sat June 21, 2008 - SILVER SPRING, Md.


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Supporters of the county's immigrant worker sites are clashing with those who want them shut down.

The immigration debate came to a head Saturday on a Silver Spring sidewalk as protesters waved posters and American flags. The protesters want the labor sites out of their neighborhoods.

"They walk up and down my street by the millions demanding rights they don't have. It's not fair to America and it's not fair to the citizens of the U.S.A. and we better wake up," one protester said.

The centers offer work and other services to laborers, both documented and undocumented. More than $500,000 tax dollars helped fund the center and two others like it in Maryland.

"We should not be pouring federal dollars or state dollars into training illegal immigrants," said Congressional candidate Steve Hudson.

And when those in charge of the centers got wind of Saturday's protests, they came ready with signs of their own. "We have legal services, health services, training programs and workers programs...just to help people," said day labor center volunteer, Alisia Canales.

"We don't do anything to hurt anybody. We stay here to work," said Casa de Maryland Project Manager Ellen Mitchell.

The day labor center has been the target of threat's in recent weeks, and those in charge say it's hard to ease the fear that echoes throughout the immigrant community.

Another day labor center is set to open in the fall in Langley Park. Protesters said they will do everything they can to prevent that from happening.







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