Issue date: 4/10/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Margot Sanchez John Cotter of New Yorkers for Immigration Control and Enforcement debates a counterdemonstrator.

About 50 students protested the presence of Minutemen Civil Defense Corps president Chris Simcox at an NYU College Republicans' event last night, staking out the Kimmel Center and attacking the group as "racist" and "fascist" vigilantes.

The demonstration was organized by the Coalition for Immigrant Rights, a group composed of members from the College Democrats, the ACLU at NYU, Latinos Unidos Con Honor y Amistad and Students Creating Radical Change. Protesters began gathering outside of Kimmel at 6:30 p.m. for the 7 p.m. event.

Simcox and the Minutemen have drawn criticism for their policy of patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border, searching for immigrants attempting to enter the country illegally.

The protesters carried signs and banners comparing the Minutemen to the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis, with signs written in Spanish and English.

"We're protesting the fact that the Minutemen are on campus propagating hatred," said Dave Hancock, a Gallatin senior and a Coalition spokesman. "The Minutemen have a right to free speech, and we have an obligation - a moral obligation - to respond."

The Coalition has declared a boycott of all College Republican events until the group acknowledges the "Find the Illegal Immigrant" game was "a racist stunt," Hancock said.

A small group of counterdemonstrators opposed to illegal immigration stood behind a barrier of bicycle racks, guarded by an NYU Public Safety officer.

One protester pulled an American flag from a counterdemonstrator's hand, ripped it in half and threw it on the ground. The counterdemonstrators left before 7:15 p.m.

A protester, who asked to be identified as Caz, said, "We see a whole history of racists and vigilantes terrorizing nonwhites and working people to protect profits and power. We see the Minutemen in the same tradition as the KKK."

The Coalition will hold its own forum on the immigration issue at the end of the month, Hancock said.

As the panel discussion began inside, the protesters used a megaphone to chant slogans in both English and Spanish, such as "Minutemen, Nazis, KKK. Racists, fascists, go away," and "Racist Minutemen you can't hide, we charge you with genocide."

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