By Bill Zeeble, KERA reporter
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-510778.mp3
Fort Worth, TX – Bill Zeeble: At noon today, about 50 people gathered near Fort Worth's Sundance Square and marched several blocks to the county courthouse. They protested the recent, largely Hispanic demonstration in which some speakers demanded amnesty for illegal immigrants. Today's group lacked a leader & a name, but not a cause. They oppose illegal immigration, demanding that only English be spoken here.
Many carried signs that read No Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants, Americans First, and More Wall, Less Pork, referring to a proposed border fence the length of the U.S. - Mexican border. Ira Mckee of Fort Worth wants that.
Ira Mckee: We can't keep running this country this way, we're giving everything away, we've got too many people in this country coming here to get free things . 833/5 they're getting food stamps, housing, free medical. They go, they have children, then they leave
Zeeble: Richard Lyman was worried that they don't actually leave, but stay. And that more keep coming, he says, not to earn money, but for something much bigger
Richard Lyman They want to claim the whole country. They believe it's theirs. This isn't about immigration, it's about the land we're standing on. This immigration is a smoke screen. They want to import their own political constituency to start voting themselves in
Zeeble: One solution? Marcher Pat Cummins said this country needs a national I.D. card.
Pat Cummins: And if you can't prove you're citizenship, you need to be deported back to where you came from regardless if its Mexico Iran, Iraq, I don't care
Zeeble: Someone who says she cared for Hispanic workers was Victoria Cloud, who with two friends across the courthouse street, defended immigrant workers
Victoria Cloud: This is a prosperous country, these people are trying to work hard, they work hard, they started at the bottom, trying to work their way up
Zeeble: Cloud called the marchers racists, a charge they denied. Protesters said legal immigrants are welcome. They just have a problem with those who come here illegally. Several groups today, including the Minuteman organization, made the same point in other Texas cities. For KERA 90.1 I'm Bill Zeeble
My email is bzeeble@kera.org