(11 Aug 1996) English/Nat
Scores of demonstrators have staged a march from San Diego to the US-Mexico border to protest against America's immigration laws.
The mainly Hispanic group hit out at the Republican Party's restrictive immigration policy which aims to crack down on awarding citizenship to descendants of illegal immigrants.
The demonstration coincided with the appointment of Bob Dole's running mate Jack Kemp, known to be critical of tough immigration policies.
Around two hundred demonstrators walked the three miles from San Diego to the US- Mexico border to draw attention to America's strict immigration laws.
The protest took place ahead of the Republican Party's Convention on Monday and came as Bob Dole announced his decision to make Jack Kemp his vice presidential candidate.
Kemp has criticised tough immigration policies in the past and is opposed to California's Proposition 187, which denies certain government benefits to illegal aliens.
But the demonstrators said his appointment will make no difference.
SOUNDBITE:
"Deciding on a more beneficent Vice President is not going to change how people feel down here. We see people flipping us off, calling us all kinds of names. That's not going to change it just because they decided on Kemp. Thank you."
SUPER CAPTION: Protestor
A section of the Republican platform on illegal immigration calls for abolishing the 14th amendment's guarantee of citizenship to persons born or naturalized in the United States.
The section aims to limit immigration and deny citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who entered the country illegally.
But the protestors' criticism was not confined to the Republican Party.
SOUNDBITE:
"And the Democrats, we're not stupid. We're not going to think it's just the Republicans."
"Racism's by anybody."
"Exactly."
"Whether they come from another brown person, whether they come from a white person, racism has got to go. We've got to take our land back, this is our land, this is our land, okay?"
SUPER CAPTION: Protestors
The demonstrators from the mainly Hispanic 'Impacto Two Thousand' group went as far as equating the Republican Party's policies with those of Nazi Germany.
But the group also denounced President Clinton for constructing an 'iron curtain' across the border with Mexico.
SOUNDBITE:
"We must remember what this wall symbolises. It is the symbol of oppression, it is the symbolism of exploitation, it is a division that has been created that is in contradiction to the spirit supposedly of NAFTA that is being created here in this country. We are angry, ladies and gentlemen, because we as Latinos are being made the scapegoats for the social-economic problems of this nation."
SUPER CAPTION: Protestor
One day ahead of the Republican Party's convention Bob Dole declined to state his position on the party's immigration platform, saying he did not regard it as the governing blueprint for a future administration.
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