Anticipating the arrival next month of citizen militias at California's border with Mexico, immigrants joined with religious, labor and community leaders Thursday in vigils and rallies in San Jose and Oakland, to denounce the growing number of armed volunteers conducting patrols.
The news conference outside the Santa Clara County government center in San Jose was part of a statewide action to support California's immigrants, said the Rev. Jon Pedigo, a San Jose pastor, ``and reject the racist-tinged'' rhetoric of Minuteman, the group patrolling the Arizona border and preparing to start in California in October.
Rallies also were held in Sacramento and San Diego.
``We believe there's no place in our community for people who terrorize people because of their immigration status,'' said Salvador Bustamante, regional vice president for the Service Employees International Union, Local 1877. ``We don't need and want vigilante groups to take the law into their hands.''
Members of Local 1877 held placards that said, ``Vigilantism is a thing of the past.''
San Jose community leaders urged the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to adopt a resolution against the Minuteman patrol and in support of immigrants.
Pedigo, a member of a People Acting in Community Together, a faith-based local group, announced that next week he will deliver 3,000 letters from immigrants and their families to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, urging him to renounce the civilian border patrols.
``What we are advocating for is immigration reform that's comprehensive, sensible, legal, and safe,'' Pedigo said. ``The issues of immigration can't be solved in an atmosphere in which there's nothing but racial profiling and xenophobic attitudes.''
A county resolution, recommended this summer by the county's Santa Clara County Human Relations Commission, is pending in committee and waiting recommendation for a vote later by the board of supervisors. If it is approved by the board, Santa Clara County could be the first municipal government in the state to take a formal stand against the Minuteman Project.
``It really speaks well of Santa Clara County's long history of welcoming immigrants,'' said Larisa Casillas, policy director for Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network, a San Jose non-profit group. ``The resolutions says they're not just talking the talk but also investing in services.''
In East Oakland, about 60 people, many of them immigrants, held a vigil in front of Centro Legal de la Raza, an immigrant legal advocacy organization. The group expressed solidarity with immigrants and attacked citizen border patrols as ``hate-filled, white supremacists.''
"We're here to denounce the invasion of vigilantes on the border,'' said Maria Jimenez, director Mujeres Unidad e y Activas, a Latina women's group in Oakland. ``The vigilantes are bringing terror and division to our communities.''
The Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition cited research by the national faith-based organization, Center for New Communities and the Anti-Defamation League, showing links between Minuteman and white supremacy groups.
In a previous interview, Tim Donnelly, Minuteman leader of recruitment in California, dismissed the ``extremists'' characterizations.
``It's an incendiary accusation,'' said Donnelly, a San Bernardino businessman. ``It's utterly ridiculous. I'm organizing a group down here, and you'd be astounded by the caliber and array of people volunteering.''
A public forum on the Minuteman originally scheduled for today at the Mexican Heritage Plaza was canceled last week after Latino community leaders objected to one of the panelists, Chris Simcox, the founder of the Minuteman.
The forum will be rescheduled at the plaza, but Simcox has not signed on to participate.