A protest leader at the Border Patrol station in Murrieta, Calif., told
Newsmax TV on Thursday that her group and others have succeeded in keeping illegal immigrants out of a handful of U.S. cities.
"In [Vassar,] Michigan, a group just stood up this week and said no," Robin Hvidston, executive director of "We The People Rising," told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner. "In Lawrenceville, Virginia, they stopped a center in their town."
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Protesters in Murrieta, near the U.S.-Mexico line, have gained national attention since July 1 for
blocking busloads of new immigrants from the local Border Patrol post and maintaining a round-the-clock lookout for more transports.
Federal officials, meanwhile, are eying facilities across the country to house an
overflow of undocumented new arrivals. Most crossed through southeastern Texas, and are being dispersed as authorities scramble to arrange emergency shelter, medical care, nutrition, and, eventually, deportation hearings.
Their numbers include tens of thousands of unaccompanied children reportedly sent away by their families to escape gang violence in Central American countries — raising the question of whether the immigrants and their advocates here will be permitted to stay here as refugees under U.S. protection.
The Obama administration, under siege for its handling of the crisis, has said most of the immigrants will be
"fast-tracked" for deportation back to their home countries.
But many of the original detainees were freed — given
bus tickets to communities where they say they have relatives or friends — on a promise to return later for hearings.
Hvidston urged people in communities where immigrant detainees might be transported and held to use the Murrieta protest as a model.
"We stood up here in Murrieta to the federal government, and as of today we do have a victory," said Hvidston, noting that no more buses are scheduled to arrive there this week. "What we need is for all of America to stand up. They [federal officials] cannot fight the entire nation. There are a lot of patriots, there are a lot of fellow Americans out there, that want to see this stopped."
She rejected charges that protesters were being cruel toward the immigrant children on buses turned away from Murrieta.
"We have complete compassion for these children. We believe they should be reunited, in their home countries where they are citizens, with their families and their friends," said Hvidston. "The cruelty to children is that Obama and his government are sending them to what are basically detention camps. These children should be treated for any illness, treated very humanely and kindly, and then returned to the countries where they are citizens."