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Web site sale to help curb illegal immigration
6/25/2005
By LAURA B. MARTINEZ
The Brownsville Herald
(Americans for Legal Immigration, illegal immigration, ebay, campaigns)
Bidding begins today on a Web site to help stop illegal immigration. The Web site, www.stopillegalimmigration.com, will go to bid on eBay and will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Bidding ends July 4.

Read the latest headlines about illegal immigration.

“Truthfully, I don’t even know if there will be any bids at all. I think there will be, but we will see,� said California businessman Adam Christing, 40, of Los Angeles, who created the Web site.

Christing said he devised the Web site and its name because of the ongoing illegal immigration prob-lem in the United States.

According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 1.14 million undocumented immigrants were apprehended in fiscal year 2004. About 905, 000 were apprehended in fiscal year 2003.

“I live in LA (Los Angeles) County and that (illegal immigration) is all everyone is talking about on talk radio, newspapers and TV,� said Christing, whose wife, a Canadian national, is seeking legal status.

Twenty percent of the Web site’s sale will go to the Americans for Legal Immigration group, whose platform supports legal immigration, but is against any amnesty, visa expansion or guest worker program “designed to reward illegal aliens or legalize their presence in the U. S.�

Christing said he chose the group to receive the proceeds because he agrees with the group’s four-point platform to address the illegal immigration problem.

The group is for securing the borders; against giving taxpayer benefits and incentives to undocu-mented immigrants; cracking down on employers who intentionally hire illegals; and enforcing exist-ing immigration laws when illegal aliens are arrested for crimes.

The only negative response Christing has had regarding the Web site is from people who do not un-derstand it or think he is trying to make a “buck� off the sale.

“I’m a small businessman and I can tell you there are a lot easier ways to earn income,� Christing said.

Instead of creating and supporting a catchy Web site, individuals and groups should try to come with creative solutions to solve the illegal immigration problem in humane way, said Nathan Seltzer, with Proyecto Libertad, a Harlingen-based human rights group.

He said Web sites such as this cause undocumented immigrants to be abused more.

“I can’t see this being done out of love for country. I see this being done out of hate, no matter how hard they try to wash themselves of their racist connections,� Seltzer said.

William Gheen, president of the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, said trying to fight illegal immigration is not a racist issue nor is his organization.

“That’s so freaking funny,� Gheen said, citing that several ALIPAC are Latinos, black, Asian and Na-tive-American.

Gheen said his organization supports those that cross into the United States legally and is working with Congress on immigration reform.

“We are either going to turn the tide through a political diffusion of the almost explosive situation or things could really unravel,� Gheen said.

The Web site’s auction comes just after the Minutemen’s presence was made noticeable in the na-tion and the Rio Grande Valley.

The Minutemen is a volunteer border patrol group, which made its presence known earlier this year for patrolling the Arizona-Mexico border for 30 days.

Earlier this week, a representative with the Minutemen met will Valley ranchers to determine if they would be interested in establishing a chapter in the area. The Minutemen plan to patrol the Texas-Mexico border in Octobe

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