Countywide : Protesters Call for Border Enforcement

A group of protesters denounced U.S. immigration policies Wednesday and urged Congress to deliver money promised years ago to tighten security along America’s borders.

About a dozen demonstrators from Citizens for Responsible Immigration gathered in front of the Federal Building in Santa Ana on Wednesday, carrying placards calling attention to what they see as a lack of law enforcement officers to patrol U.S. borders.

“Basically, we’re here because our borders are not secure. We’re fighting anarchy here,” said Richard Avard, 55, a roofing contractor from Fountain Valley. “Mexican laborers are being exploited. As a legitimate contractor, I’m competing against the unscrupulous contractor who is knowingly hiring illegal aliens. We can’t compete. How are we going to compete when a guy doesn’t pay any taxes?”

Several protesters said their concerns stem from dissatisfaction with enforcement of the 1986 federal immigration act. That law provides fines and the possibility of jail time for employers who hire illegal aliens. It also gave amnesty to thousands of illegal migrants already in the United States and authorized more than 1,500 border patrol agent positions.

Ben Davidian, western regional commissioner for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, said that no money has been allocated to hire those agents, however.

The protesters said employers have been hiring illegal immigrants because there are not enough agents to stop them.

“If they are going to have a law, enforce it,” Avard said. “If not, get rid of it because it’s a farce.”

Maria Maldonado, 52, who traveled to the protest from her home in Imperial Beach, said the issue is immigrants who are breaking the law.

“They hear all the things about this country and when they get here, they are living in the streets and in the canyons in San Diego,” Maldonado said.

Some Mexican-Americans who stopped to observe the protest Wednesday said they did not think the protesters had their interests in mind.

“I don’t think it’s right,” said 14-year-old Rachel Gonzalez, who listened to the demonstrators with several members of her family. Gonzalez said she thought the demonstrators were unfairly attacking Mexican immigrants, who only “come here to work, make money, make a better life. Like for me, to be here and get an education and go to college.”

Lilia Powell, executive director for the Orange County Coalition for Immigrant Rights and Responsibilities, said illegal immigrants should not be hired but that the protesters were making their point the wrong way.

“Having a demonstration of that sort does not contribute a solution to the problem,” Powell said from her office in Santa Ana. “In the long run, they are contributing to the anti-immigrant sentiment. . . . We have labor laws that deal with (workers hired illegally). These need to be enforced instead of making an immigration issue out of it.”