Producing Smaller Numbers, But Laying Claim to Majority

By Monica Davey, New York Times

May 2, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/us/02groups.html

Around the edges of the immigration demonstrations that filled cities like this one on Monday, there were some who went to disagree.

In Las Vegas, Jackie Pinjuv, 68, and another woman waded into the immigration demonstration and offered their own sign: "Illegals, Go Home. Your Rights Are There."...

"I believe that these people are hurting our country and they need to go back," she said.

In Denver, a group gathered near the larger march to voice support for a proposed constitutional amendment barring illegal immigrants in the state from getting some social services.

And here, Rick Biesada, a founder of the Chicago Minuteman Project, which opposes illegal immigration, said four supporters of his group's philosophy tried to attend events but were turned away.

...Mr. Biesada said... "We have nothing against immigration; it's illegal immigration that has to stop."...

But advocates for tighter border security and increased enforcement of immigration laws said that their quieter voices were actually more representative of the views of Americans as a whole.

"I think the majority of Americans are very, very upset," said Fred Elbel, the co-chairman of Defend Colorado Now, an organization pressing for the amendment to bar illegal immigrants from receiving some social services. "The illegals are organized by a massive, well-funded campaign with a tremendous amount of organization out there. There's no equivalent organization to get Americans out to protest and say: 'Enforce our laws.' "

Around the country, conservative radio and television talk show hosts often spoke of the demonstrations. Even their choices of words ("illegal alien" and "amnesty") often clashed with those used by organizers at the demonstrations ("immigrant" and "reform").

In Cicero, Ill., Susan Masek said she drove past the protest in that suburb of Chicago with a sign on her car window saying "No Amnesty" and "Illegal is Illegal." A group of demonstrators surrounded her car, Ms. Masek said, and a few started jumping on its front end. After a tense confrontation, she said she left at the request of the police....

Dave Gorak, the executive director of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration, said the demonstrations did not represent another group of people losing out to illegal immigrants: millions of "underemployed Americans, who would love to have a fulltime job."

"What this is about is disrespect and contempt for the law," Mr. Gorak said. "These people are laughing in the faces of everybody who came to this country playing by the rules. They are laughing at everybody who has fought and died for this country. For them to stand up and say, 'You owe us something,' is just wrong."

In Houston, Leslie Wetzel, a director of U.S. Border Watch, was one of two anti-immigration protesters outside the office of Senator John Cornyn, a Republican. She carried signs that said, "Remember the Alamo" and "Come and Take It."

In response, Ms. Wetzel said, advocates for immigrants pushed bullhorns in her face and tried otherwise to intimidate her.

"They should all be put on a bus and deported," she said. "If you're illegal, you're out of here. Period. It's not a racist thing. It's a question of law and order. Either we're a nation of law, or we're going to be a nation of anarchy."

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