California city is latest immigration flashpoint

Article author: 
Matt Hamilton
Article publisher: 
AP
Article date: 
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Article category: 
National Issues
Medium
Article Body: 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — When American flag-waving protesters forced busloads of migrants to leave Murrieta earlier this week, the Southern California city became the latest flash point in an intensifying immigration debate that could heat up even more as patriotism surges on the Fourth of July.

The city's mayor has become a hero to those seeking stronger immigration policies...

...protesters blocked the road, forcing federal officials to take the immigrants elsewhere.

A second protest is planned for July 4...

"We've had it," said Carol Schlaepfer, a retired Pomona resident who protested Tuesday in Murrieta. "We all want a better life. ... You can't come to our country and expect American citizens to dole out what you need, from grade school till death."...

"It's not the 140 we're concerned about," Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone said of the number of people on the three buses turned away by Murrieta protesters. "It's the thousands more that will follow that will strain our resources and take away the resources we need to care for our own citizens."...

In New Mexico, one of a few states that grants driver's licenses to immigrants who entered the country illegally, residents have been less enthusiastic about taking on the burden....

Residents told authorities they were afraid the immigrants would take jobs and resources from U.S. citizens.