The Briefing Room
General Category => Immigration/Border => Topic started by: flowers on September 21, 2014, 04:01:58 pm
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/20/immigration-protest-cancelled-over-death-threats-from-mexican-cartels
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World news
US immigration
Immigration protest cancelled over 'death threats from Mexican cartels'
Shut Down All Ports of Entry meant to target 17 crossings
Organiser: ‘It was a cartel threatening a bloodbath’
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Jessica Glenza in New York
theguardian.com, Saturday 20 September 2014 16.38 EDT
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anti-immigration protest phoenix Opposition to US immigration policies is widespread in many southern states. Photograph: Jerry Burch/ Jerry Burch/Demotix/Corbis
Conservative activists who planned to protest against illegal immigration and President Obama’s immigration policies on Saturday said they had canceled all events after receiving death threats from Mexican drug cartels.
Activists had planned to use vehicles as barricades to shut down border crossings at 17 locations in four states – Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. But the event, called Shut Down All Ports of Entry, was canceled early on Saturday morning by organizer Stasyi Barth, who said she had received the threats.
In August, a similar protest was canceled after organizers claimed they had been threatened by Mexican drug cartels. The organizer of that 30-vehicle “Border Convoy”, Eric Odom, canceled a rally meant for El Paso in Texas but did not specify which cartel might have threatened his group.
“We had to cancel that because of death threats against our crew and convoy,” he told the Guardian. “We’re not into that. We are a very peaceful convoy and we want to show that the border is very dangerous and open.”
On Saturday, Barth said “an unsubstantiated threat of mass violence against attendees, along with very suspicious activity on the Facebook site” had forced her to cancel the event, telling supporters: “Your lives, and the lives of our law enforcement, are more important than any protest.”