Thread: NJ:Rally in Morris to urge tougher curbs on illegals

Rally in Morris to urge tougher curbs on illegals
Friday, July 27, 2007

By ELIZABETH LLORENTE
STAFF WRITER

Proponents of strict immigration enforcement plan a major rally in Morristown on Saturday to call on public officials to more forcefully crack down on illegal immigration.

Robb Pearson, founder of the ProAmerica Society, the lead group coordinating the rally, said federal authorities have not used the full arsenal of immigration laws to stop illegal entries and find and deport people who are unlawfully in the United States.

"We want them to do their job of enforcing immigration law -- to secure the Southern border, and crack down on employers who hire illegal aliens," Pearson said.

The rally, which will take place behind Town Hall from noon to 2 p.m., also will trumpet a federal program that grants authority to local police officers to enforce immigration laws, Pearson said.

Morristown has been in the national spotlight since its mayor, Donald Cresitello, applied for admission into the program, known as 287G, earlier this year.

"We want to encourage local authorities to apply for 287G," he said. "With the federal government's inaction in terms of enforcement, what other recourse do we have to protect our interests than to solve the illegal immigration problem at the local level?"

Groups that favor easing restrictions on immigration plan to counter the rally with a prayer vigil at St. Margaret's Church on Saturday, also from noon to 2 p.m.

Organizers of the vigil include immigrant leaders who have waged campaigns against Cresitello's 287G proposal. They say local authorities are ill-equipped to enforce complex immigration laws, and that 287G would make immigrants fearful of coming forward to police as victims or witnesses of crimes.

"We want to affirm our principles and values," said Stuart Sydenstricker of Wind of the Spirit, a Morristown immigrant advocacy group. "We're not shouting, not yelling, just getting together peacefully."

Those favoring strict immigration measures say they have heard that some white supremacist groups plan to send members to the rally.

They stressed that they shun these organizations' views on race, but cannot stop them from attending.

"From what I've heard, these people show up and they're innocuous, they just stand and listen," Pearson said. He added that he plans to meet with rally speakers before the event to underscore that anyone expressing hateful or discriminatory views will prompt him to "pull the plug" on the audio system.

"The last thing we need is our own ranks destroying our message," he said.

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Dueling rallies
The American spirit comes to Morristown

Saturday, July 28, 2007

With Congress failing to act on any immigration bill, the debate continues in the street. A rally to protest illegal immigration is set for noon today at Morristown Town Hall. Radio spots touting a "Secure Borders" rally began airing on local radio stations Thursday. Rally organizer Robb Pearson of Mount Olive predicts more than 1,000 people may attend.

Meanwhile, a group backing rights of all immigrants, Wind of the Spirit, plans a prayer vigil at St. Margaret's Church and a small counterprotest across the street from town hall, also at noon.

Our feelings on the emotional immigration debate have not changed. We supported the compromise bill in the U.S. Senate that would have eased the path to citizenship for most illegal immigrants now working in the United States. That effort failed, which means the status quo will continue. It sure would have been more practical, not to mention more humane, to pass that bill and help legitimize millions of people. Mass deportation, which some at today's rally may support, is unlikely to happen.

Today's rally comes as the federal government is considering a request by Mayor Donald Cresitello to deputize some town police officers to enforce federal immigration law, a idea we oppose.

With an emotional issue like this, there always is the possibility tempers may flare and things may get out of hand. Peter Demnitz, the town police chief, says his department is prepared. We hope so