Latino Organization allies with the Minuteman Project

Latino Organization allies with the Minuteman Project
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Category: Life

Latino Organization allies with the Minuteman Project

03/04/2007
BY CHRISTINA M. WOODS
The Wichita Eagle

A Hispanic organization is coordinating a community forum with a group that promotes reporting illegal immigrants to federal authorities.

The People's Alliance for Latino Advancement and the Kansas Minuteman Civil Defense Corp. will explain their missions, discuss problems and identify possible solutions to end illegal immigration.

They also will ask people to sign a petition urging U.S. lawmakers to hold the Mexican government accountable for its contribution to illegal immigration.

U.S.-born Hispanics have been silent too long about illegal immigration, said Bob Hernandez, co-chairman of the Latino advancement group.

Hernandez, a National Guardsman, said he's against open borders and people who profit from smuggling immigrants.

There is no oversight for Mexico's government, which keeps wages low and caters to the rich, he said. So people flee north and send billions of dollars back home.

"We want the U.S. government to quit pandering to Mexico," Hernandez said. "We want Mexico to take care of (its) people."

As a result, Hernandez said he agrees with the Minuteman group's mission to speak out against illegal immigration.