Tea party groups rally at border

HEREFORD, Ariz. – Tea party groups converged on a remote section of the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday to show support for Arizona’s controversial immigration law and hear from more than a dozen conservative speakers, many of them candidates running for office in crowded Republican primaries.

Several speaking to the crowd of more than 400 demanded Congress and President Barack Obama devote more resources to increase border security in remote areas like the site of Sunday’s demonstration south of Tucson.

“We are going to force them to do it, because if they don’t, we will not stop screaming,” said former state Sen. Pam Gorman, one of 10 Republicans vying for an open congressional seat in north Phoenix. Gorman carried a handgun in a holster slung over her shoulder as she mingled with demonstrators.

Obama on Friday signed a bill directing $600 million more to securing the U.S.-Mexico border – money that will pay for hiring 1,000 more Border Patrol agents along with customs agents, communications equipment and expanded use of unmanned aerial vehicles.

A federal judge last month delayed the most contentious provisions of Arizona’s law, including a section that would require officers to check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws if they have “reasonable suspicion” that the person was in the country illegally.

On Sunday, demonstrators gathered at a remote private ranch 70 miles east of Nogales where the steel posts of the Arizona-Mexico border wall are set inches apart to prevent people from crossing into the U.S.

Hundreds of small U.S. flags and messages were attached to the fence posts by opponents of illegal immigration. The fence, about 15 feet tall and built in the last decade, barely conceals the old barrier still standing behind it – a short, flimsy barbed-wire fence.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known for his tough enforcement of immigration laws in Arizona’s most populous county, said more law enforcement officials should adopt his hard-line stance to prevent illegal immigrants from settling in after they’ve successfully crossed the border.

“Don’t just say border enforcement; that’s a cop-out,” he said. “Let’s say lock them up in the interior.”

Betsy Bayley, 55, a stay-at-home grandmother in Hereford, said drug smuggling has left her feeling less safe in her home in recent years.

“My government should protect me so I can feel safe on my own property,” said Bayley, red, white and blue beads strung around her neck as she found a small patch of shade against the steel border fence. “That’s my right as an American. I should feel safe on my own property.”