"Welcome To Sanctuary City"

Anti-Sanctuary Billboards Debut In Denver
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--Update--Billboards stir 'illegals' debate, Denver officials deny city has a so-called 'sanctuary' policy


U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, seated, is interviewed Thursday on KHOW radio at the unveiling of a billboard that alleges Denver is offering "sanctuary" to illegal immigrants.



Billboard Colorado's website has some background:

Bob Park, of Prescott, AZ, is a military veteran. He also served with the U.S. Border Patrol, and was he was a criminal investigator with the INS. As an immigration activist, Bob participated last year in the Minuteman Project in Arizona where he noticed that many of his fellow participants were military veterans, inspiring Bob to form Veterans for Secure Borders. Bob, too, became incensed over government's crass treatment of its veterans, while it was laying out the red carpet for illegals. So Bob, an unassuming man, but with a professional agitator's relish and history for the provocative, erected a billboard in New Mexico, which you may see on Bob's website. (Billboard Colorado is using that billboard for its first prototype.)

Bob's billboard, along with the information about how the U.S. government is cooing over and wooing illegals while screwing veterans, came to the attention of Denver radio talk-show host, Peter Boyles, who understandably and temporarily went ballistic, recovered, and then made an on-air wish to launch a billboard project in the Denver area that honored Bob's central theme. The response in public support for the project was immediate and overwhelming.

The local press covered the unveiling earlier today (video):

DENVER - Drivers may soon pass a new billboard campaign designed to highlight the problems with illegal immigration.

A group called Billboard Colorado has posted full-size billboards at the intersections of 21st and California and 6th Avenue and I-25 in Denver to bring attention to the issue.

One billboard reads "Mr. President, Mr. Governor, Mr. Mayor, They did not die for illegal sanctuary." The words sit next to three soldier helmets sitting on rifle butts with their bayonets buried in blood.

The second billboard says "Welcome to Sanctuary City." Critics have said Denver's immigration policy is a sanctuary for illegal immigrants as the city does not routinely take undocumented residents into custody for violating immigration laws. Mayor John Hickenlooper has said the city does not have a "sanctuary policy" and that immigration law is supposed to be enforced by federal authorities.

Congressman Tom Tancredo, Colorado's Minutemen Chapter and members behind Defend Colorado Now, a group promoting a ballot initiative this fall to deny certain government services to illegal immigrants were present. A local open-borders wingnut came out as well:

Denver resident Richard Delgado came to protest. He held a sign which read "No Billboards for Bigots" and said he's outraged by the display.

"I think it's a new low in this discussion over immigration," said Delgado. "It's unnecessary. Let's have the debate, but don't exploit our war dead. You have to take a stand and I'm on the side of right."

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Owens Signs Immigration Bills
"To My Country": Exploiting Children For Political Gain In The Immigration Debate
VBlogging: May Day Protestors
Those Pesky Immigration Requirements
May Day In Denver II
May Day In Denver

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