Tea Partiers Rally on Arizona Border With Mexico

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Tea Partiers Rally on Arizona Border With Mexico
HEREFORD, Arizona -- Tea party activists supporting Arizona's illegal immigration law were rallying along a remote stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border about 70 miles west of Nogales in support of the law that a judge put mostly on hold last month.
The United Border Coalition, which is an event organized by United We Stand for Americans and the Tea Party Caucus as well as more than a dozen other groups, is holding the rally near a stretch of border wall made of 15-foot steel posts set closely together to prevent people from crossing the border. People have attached flags with messages about curbing illegal immigration to the posts.
U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth, who is challenging John McCain in the Republican primary, was scheduled to speak, along with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle had been scheduled to attend but canceled claiming it was not logistically possible for her to schedule a trip there.
President Obama signed legislation last week to hike the number of Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents along the border. The $600 million package passed on a bipartisan basis, one of the few areas where lawmakers have agreed this year.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said that securing the border is a major part of immigration policy.
"The fact that we're deploying technology as well as additional about 1,500 agents along the border shows that we're very serious and we have to -- if we have to do more, we should do more. And that, I believe, is the view of the president," Reed said on "Fox News Sunday."
But after witnessing the president signing the legislation, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a former Arizona governor, said the amount requested for border security "is what we thought would be enough."
Not hardly, said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who appeared with Reed.
"I'm glad the administration has come around to support more boots on the ground, more UAVs, technology. But last year there were 540,000 people, roughly, detained coming across the border illegally. Forty-five thousand of them came from countries other than Mexico ... So this remains a very serious national security problem. And I think until we do actually secure the border, until we do actually enforce our current law, I don't think the American people are going to have confidence in the federal government."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010...border-mexico/

[wetibbe]

Follow up on rally.

Thousands of supporters.

30 counter protesters.

Video:

http://www.kvoa.com/news/border-tea-...igration-law-/

HEREFORD - Hundreds of SB1070 supporters are drawn to private land owned by American Border Patrol to say enough is enough.

"I'm here because I believe we should secure our borders," says one supporter.

Members of various Tea Party organizations demonstrated with flags and signs in support of Arizona's illegal immigration law.

"This is the United States of America and they're trying to break it up," says Glenn Spencer with American Border Patrol which is not associated with the U.S. Border Patrol.

Spencer says he knows the nation's eyes are focused on this pocket of the country, which many consider to be the front lines of the war on immigration, "The American people are not going to put up with the loss of their national sovereignty."

Spencer says he estimates the rally stage to be 700 feet from the border fence.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, looked to as the symbol of the pro SB1070 movement are who many came to see, "It shows Washington that nice people come way out in the dessert to tell the world we have a problem," says Arpaio.

The controversial sheriff says tougher laws, not building more fence, will turn this problem around, "I want someone to tell me when they hop the fence what happens to that person. When they tell me they go to jail, when they come over that fence then I'll go for the fence. Until they tell me that, it's all garbage."

A number of speakers talked about border security including Arizona State Sen. Russell Pearce, one of the architects of Senate Bill 1070 and J.D. Hayworth, who is trying to oust U.S. Sen. John McCain in the GOP primary.

Supporters promise the fight to enforce federal immigration laws will go on


.