Group to rally against illegal immigrants

There might be 200. There might be 2,000. No matter how many take part in this rally, they've vowed to stand tall.

The immigration debate that has split communities recently fused together a group of illegal immigration opponents who plan to steal the soap box for a chance to explain their side of the issue.

They have been called racists. They call themselves patriots.

"We just feel our country is being invaded by an illegal group of people who really have no right to be in this country," said Harold Poole, president of Americans Standing Tall, the group organizing the counter immigration rally for July 1.

"We can't just pick and choose which laws we choose to enforce and which we choose to ignore. ... Instead of sticking our heads in the sand, I like to say we've drawn our line in the sand."

These children of the illegal immigration revolution — with a membership of 27 from Marco Island to Cape Coral — forged together shortly after the May 1 work strike to conjure a voice they hope will resonate above the estimated 75,000 immigrant supporters that dominated downtown Fort Myers in a march on April 10.

The Citizen's Day Rally, one of a series planned across the nation according to citizensday.com, is expected to pull between 200 and 2,000 local supporters to the steps of Fort Myers City Hall, Poole said. The rally starts at noon and will end about two hours later, depending on how many speakers the group can sign.

The grassroots organization has made headway in its six weeks of existence, tapping into national immigration-reduction groups to learn how to publicize and congregate. The California-based Minutemen Project, a self-proclaimed "citizens' vigilance corporation monitoring immigration, business and government," plans to send executive director Steve Eichler to the local rally.

Eichler will outline the group's latest campaign, a series of billboards protesting Arizona Sen. John McCain's support for amnesty, said Tim Bueler, director of media relations.

"Every state is important. A lot of the states are untapped. California has 20 to 30 immigration reform groups; Minnesota has one," Bueler said. "Nationally, Florida's not looked at, though it is a border state."

Immigration issues, which Poole said have been skimmed over by the bias of the media, will be addressed at the rally to give Southwest Floridians the opportunity to learn a different angle of the issue.

"There are still people out there who don't really know what's going on. They only know what they see on TV or hear on the radio," Poole said. "We're being called racist and we are by no means racist...the media is twisting it and so is our government."

But immigration supporters say the counter movement is steeped in racism — especially against Hispanics.

"You start to hear the prejudice tones," said Jim Delgado, a member of Concilio Mexicano de la Florida (Mexican Council of Florida). "I heard one person who was brave enough to call (immigration) the 'browning of America.'"

NumbersUSA, an "immigration-reduction organization," has been facing the immigration debate since the mid-1990s, said Caroline Espinosa, a spokesperson for the Washington, D.C.-based group.

"It's an issue that we actually should have addressed a long time ago," Espinosa said. "In the last 20 years or so that our immigration laws have not been enforced, particularly in the workplace where you do have a lot of abuse going on in hiring illegal aliens."

NumbersUSA is not sending a representative to speak at the July 1 rally, but has been contacted by Americans Standing Tall for information, Poole said.

The Fort Myers Police Department is aware of the rally and is preparing, but will not release any details of how it will handle the event, said Shelly Flynn, a department spokeswoman.

"For security reasons we don't release anything involving operation plans," Flynn said.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office spent more than $300,000 on riot gear for the April 10 protest, but it hasn't gotten word if deputies will need to drag it out again. The Fort Myers Police have not contacted the Sheriff's Office about the rally, according to spokesman Deputy Angelo Vaughn.

With grassroots groups on both sides organizing, lawmakers have yet to see the end of letters penning deep-seated emotions and staunch opinions. But Delgado said the issue will become less of a dichotomy with each generation. Change and acceptance comes easier with time, he said.

"What it really boils down to is fear of change," he said.