More than a dozen conservative speakers, many of them candidates vying for office in Arizona, spoke to a crowd of about 400 Tea Party activists who gathered in support of Arizona’s anti-immigration law on Sunday at the U.S. Mexico Border.
Many of the activists demanded that Congress and President Barack Obama increase resources for border security, including the area where the rally took place southeast of Tucson.
“We are going to force them to do it, because if they don’t, we will not stop screaming,” said a gun toting and former state Sen. Pam Gorman. She is one of 10 Republicans vying for an open congressional seat in north Phoenix
Other speakers at the event included infamous Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Senatorial candidate J.D. Hayworth.
“Don’t just say border enforcement, that’s a cop-out,” Arpaio said. “Let’s say lock them up in the interior.”
Hayworth remarks included criticism of the President for doing “too little, too late,” in regards to a border security bill Obama signed on Friday. The bill will increase funding for unmanned aerial drones and law enforcement officials along the US-Mexico border.
Counter-demonstrators made an appearance at the rally but were asked to leave during Arpaio’s speech when three people stood and turned their backs on the sheriff in silent protest.
One of the counter-demonstrators, Alison McLeod, who lives near the border, said the law won’t do anything to curb immigration.
“You’re not getting to the root of the problem by scapegoating people and by building walls,” she said. “We need a just immigration policy that allows people who want to work to come here to work, and when the growing season is over, they can go back.”
Obviously they had nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon except preach hate and bigotry
I agree with you Gina, but it seems both sides were presented with the subject.
From a story about the event…
“‘Instead of finding bugs in our beds, we’re finding home invaders,’ said Tony Venuti, a Tucson radio host who attached a huge sign to the fence that told immigrants to head to Los Angeles, where they will be more welcome, and even offered directions for getting there.”
Sorry Anya – there’s no two sides to this (unless you are talking about two sides of the border) hate is hate and there is no other way to describe it.