Thread: Protests resume in Laguna Beach

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/ho ... 936209.php


Saturday, January 7, 2006
Protests resume in Laguna Beach

By WILLIAM WHEELER
The Orange County Register

A line of passing motorists -- showing their approval or disapproval with a honk of the horn or the occasional obscene gesture -- divided opposing sides in an ongoing immigration debate in Laguna Beach today.

Dozens from anti-illegal immigration groups like the Minutemen and the California Coalition for Immigration Reform said they came as part of a "Stop the Invasion National Protest Day," which planned protests across 19 states.

Immigrants-rights groups like the Orange County Minutemen Watch Network came as part of a counter-protest to show their support for workers gathered nearby at Laguna Beach’s Day Labor Hiring Center.

A group on one side of the road began to chant, "Racists go home."

But Ada McKnight, a 73-year-old art dealer from Irvine, said her issue is about legal immigration, not racism.

"I don’t care if they are from Norway, they shouldn’t be here illegally ... it’s a darn shame that people have to leave their country - they love their country. But our kids can’t get jobs anymore," she said.

Across the street, Rocio Gonzalez Watson, 32, from Fullerton and a co-founder of the Minutemen Watch group, said she came to counter-protest after learning of the demonstration on the Internet. Her group also sent a delegation to a similar protest in Lake Forest.

"We’re here to support our workers and our community and really to say no to racism. It’s not going to happen in Orange County."

The protests were heated, but peaceful, as Laguna Beach police watched over the crowd.

Lupe Moreno, a 48-year-old from Santa Ana, brought her grandchildren to wave American flags at the protest. She said she felt certain that police - and the Minutemen - would keep them safe.

Moreno, the daughter of a "coyote" who smuggled immigrants across the border from Mexico, said she has been called a "sellout" and a "trader to the Mexican race."

She has demonstrated in Temecula, Marieta, Anaheim, Alhambra and is planning an upcoming protest of the Mexican Consulate in Santa Ana.

"This doesn’t have anything to do with race, it’s about breaking the law," she said. "Some of these people," she said, pointing to the day laborers across the street, "think that just because we have brown skin, we can’t be Americans."

Moreno said she favored legal immigration and cultural assimilation for Mexican citizens who want to come to America.

But the dialogue was not always so polite.

Steve Nelson, 53, stood beside the son he pulled out of a Huntington Beach high school a decade ago. Beneath a ball cap that read "US Border Patrol," he explained his fears that the school - as well as his current hometown San Juan Capistrano, was developing gang problems. Many were illegal immigrants. he said

"Seventeenth Street gang mean anything to you," he yelled to counter-protesters across the street. "Do illegal alien gang-rapers mean anything to you? You can’t do this in Mexico - you’ll get shot."

Nelson, a contractor, said he struggles to do business by the rules when competitors hire cheap labor illegally.

"I have to compete with illegal aliens that will come for half the price ... we want people to come here, be proud to be Americans, learn our language and become part of our culture," he said.

From the other side of the street, Alexander Jabbari, an 18-year-old community studies major from Laguna Niguel, exchanged angry words with Nelson.

"I can’t hear you Nazi, I don’t speak racist," he said.

"These people are really confused and they’re frustrated," he said of his opponents. "They’re taking it out on people who are just trying to find work."

Holding a sign that read "Laguna Beach residents wake up," Eileen Garcia said she wanted other Laguna Beach residents to be aware that the city uses community assistance funds to help fund the day labor hiring center. Those funds should help Laguna Beach residents, she said.

"Obviously the people (who find work at the center) are not Laguna Beach residents."

Garcia, and all the others interviewed, had been to the site for previous protests. Many there on today said they had also been at the Jan. 3 meeting when the Costa Mesa City Council approved training local police in illegal immigration enforcement practices.

Alex Fu, a 19-year-old sociology student from Aliso Viejo, said neither side would win the war of words.

"We kind of yell stupid things at each other ... it’s really just to deter them from wanting to come again and to show that they are not welcome in the community," he said.

Meanwhile, Jose Garcia watched on from the Day Labor Hiring Center. The 21-year-old has been coming from Lake Forest for more than a year to look for work.

The protests scared off much of today’s work. But tomorrow will be different. The group across the street can’t stop the contractors from coming back, he said.

"They support us," he said of the contractors in Spanish.

"They understand we do the work no one else wants to do," he said.



CONTACT US: wwheeler@ocregister.com

That picture of the possible illegals by the "Do Not Enter Wrong Way" Sign is a bit ironic.

ALPAC Survey on Protest issue

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=Surveys