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 News from Around the Americas | May 2005 
Group To March In Protest Of Schwarzenegger Remarks
 Elena Gaona - Union-Tribune
| | Demonstrators are asking that the Mexican government not allow Schwarzenegger to film or promote movies in Mexico again. |
Escondido, CA – The group Hispanos Unidos in the USA expected some 500 people to march near downtown Sunday to protest recent comments by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that they say were anti-immigrant and anti-Latino.
"It's a march to demand that the Mexican senators and lawmakers boycott the governor and consider him a persona non grata, an undesirable for Mexico," said Gustavo Munguia, coordinator of Hispanos Unidos, an Escondido-based immigrant group that organized several marches in support of driver licenses for immigrants in recent years.
North County demonstrators will meet near Mission Avenue and Quince Street at noon tomorrow. They are asking that the Mexican government not allow Schwarzenegger to film or promote movies in Mexico again. He filmed the sci-fi action movie "Predator" in the jungles near Puerto Vallarta in 1987.
Munguia said Schwarzenegger has a history of hurting the Latino community, noting that one of his first acts as governor was to repeal a law that would have allowed undocumented migrant workers to apply for driver licenses.
Two recent Schwarzenegger comments are the reason for the march tomorrow, Munguia said.
Schwarzenegger suggested that California's borders should be "closed," although he quickly backtracked to explain that he meant the borders need to be "secured." He then praised the Minuteman Project, comparing the volunteer border patrol group in Arizona to a Neighborhood Watch group.
Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson said the immigrant group should understand, as fellow English learners, that the governor made a mistake in language and meant "secure," not "close," the borders.
Securing the border is enforcing the law, Thompson said.
"The governor will always stand on the side of wanting to enforce the laws," she said. "This is not racial."
"It's not a zero sum game. You can still enforce the border and celebrate the culture that has added vibrancy and strong family ties to California," she said.
As to future filming in Mexico, Thompson said Schwarzenegger is "not thinking about his movie career right now." |
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