Save Our State Organization

As the insults flew and the protest reached a boil, Joseph Turner couldn't help but smile. The 29-year-old head of the upstart Save Our State organization had come to Baldwin Park to pick a fight over illegal immigration. He had led a band of like-minded souls into the heart of the city to protest public art they deemed "seditious and anti-American."

For a couple of hours Saturday, a small group of demonstrators made Slauson Avenue in the tiny city of Maywood feel like the red-hot center of the national debate over immigrant rights. A few dozen people from Save Our State and like-minded groups lined up behind police barricades, shouted into bullhorns and waved American flags to protest characterizations of the heavily Latino, square-mile city by some elected officials as a sanctuary for illegal immigrants.

For 12 years, public artwork near the Baldwin Park Metrolink station never caused a stir. But when a Ventura-based group that opposes illegal immigration got wind of what was inscribed on the artwork this month, they organized a protest that garnered attention when it was announced on the "John & Ken Show" on KFI-AM (640). By Saturday, activists on both sides of the immigration issue mobilized, resulting in a sometimes chaotic confrontation in the San Gabriel Valley community.

A petition drive to ban day-labor centers and bar illegal immigrants from renting apartments in San Bernardino has gathered enough signatures to force a City Council vote on the proposal, potentially setting off another political maelstrom in a Southern California city grappling with immigration issues.

A petition drive to ban day-labor centers and bar illegal immigrants from renting apartments in San Bernardino has gathered enough signatures to force a City Council vote on the proposal, potentially setting off another political maelstrom in a Southern California city grappling with immigration issues.

Set at the junction of two freeways and along a major railroad route, the working-class town of Baldwin Park likes to call itself "the Hub of the San Gabriel Valley." But the city, about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and nearly 80% Latino, today finds itself the hub of an increasingly bitter fight over illegal immigration.

As Congress debates the polarizing issue of immigration, the founder of an anti-illegal immigrant group is pushing for San Bernardino to outlaw day labor sites and bar the undocumented from renting property.

Save Our State, the in-your-face anti-illegal immigration group, was thrilled. Its long-held desire to forge ties to the black community was at last to be realized. Invited to speak to a black community forum in Leimert Park this month, SOS founder Joseph Turner was sure that by the time he finished expressing his outrage about the impact of illegal immigration on jobs, schools and neighborhoods, Save Our State would have new, equally outraged allies. But it was not to be.

For a couple of hours Saturday, a small group of demonstrators made Slauson Avenue in the tiny city of Maywood feel like the red-hot center of the national debate over immigrant rights. A few dozen people from Save Our State and like-minded groups lined up behind police barricades, shouted into bullhorns and waved American flags to protest characterizations of the heavily Latino, square-mile city by some elected officials as a sanctuary for illegal immigrants.

Francisco Javier Leyva lives in Southern California but drives the 10 miles to Tijuana, Mexico, at least once a week to visit friends and family. Because his life straddles the border, he would welcome the opportunity to become an American citizen while retaining his Mexican nationality. "I would like to be a U.S. citizen, but sometimes you just don't want to lose your Mexican" nationality, said Leyva, 37, owner of a children's clothing store in the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista.

As Congress debates the polarizing issue of immigration, the founder of an anti-illegal immigrant group is pushing for San Bernardino to outlaw day labor sites and bar the undocumented from renting property.

Save Our State, the in-your-face anti-illegal immigration group, was thrilled. Its long-held desire to forge ties to the black community was at last to be realized. Invited to speak to a black community forum in Leimert Park this month, SOS founder Joseph Turner was sure that by the time he finished expressing his outrage about the impact of illegal immigration on jobs, schools and neighborhoods, Save Our State would have new, equally outraged allies. But it was not to be.

As the insults flew and the protest reached a boil, Joseph Turner couldn't help but smile. The 29-year-old head of the upstart Save Our State organization had come to Baldwin Park to pick a fight over illegal immigration. He had led a band of like-minded souls into the heart of the city to protest public art they deemed "seditious and anti-American."

Set at the junction of two freeways and along a major railroad route, the working-class town of Baldwin Park likes to call itself "the Hub of the San Gabriel Valley." But the city, about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and nearly 80% Latino, today finds itself the hub of an increasingly bitter fight over illegal immigration.

For 12 years, public artwork near the Baldwin Park Metrolink station never caused a stir. But when a Ventura-based group that opposes illegal immigration got wind of what was inscribed on the artwork this month, they organized a protest that garnered attention when it was announced on the "John & Ken Show" on KFI-AM (640). By Saturday, activists on both sides of the immigration issue mobilized, resulting in a sometimes chaotic confrontation in the San Gabriel Valley community.