demonstrators in murietta, california waited hours on friday for buses full of undocumented immigrants who may not arrive. there were chants, and at least one physical fight, between opponents of an expected transfer of undocumented immigrants and those who showed up to support them. one woman fainted from heat exhaustion; it was over 90 degrees.
"we need to stop these busloads of illegals," said liz herger, who was one of about 75 protesters opposing the expected transfer. "we are an economically depressed area and we already don't have jobs...who's gonna take care of them? we're not going to," herger said. three women and two men were arrested throughout the course of the day, police said.
protesters on both sides showed up after customs and border protection said it may transfer undocumented immigrants from overburdened facilities in texas to murietta every three days. the last time they tried to make a transfer was tuesday.
murietta, a town of about 103,000 people nearly 80 miles southeast of los angeles, became a flashpoint in the immigration crisis after protesters on tuesday blocked the road to an intake facility. they subsequently prevented three buses carrying about 140 migrants from getting through. the buses eventually turned around and went to another facility.
the controversial transfer is part of a federal plan to relieve texas facilities overwhelmed with over 50,000 unaccompanied children who poured across the border since october. a crowd supporting the migrants shouted at protesters across country roads. chants of "usa, go home," and "stop breaking the law," were met with "refugees are not illegal," "racists! racists!" and, "si si puede!" which means, yes we can, in english.
"this country is based on immigration and I cannot believe how kids aren't being welcomed. it blows my mind," said osvaldo delgado, of mexican descent. his parents came to the u.s. legally. delgado said, "they're fleeing for their lives." it isn't clear if - and/or when - the next attempt to transfer undocumented immigrants to the murietta facility will be made.
i am
- mark j. tuggle
- harlem, usa
- same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.
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