Minutemen protest banks
Wells Fargo, Zions under fire for accepting immigrant IDs
But he also sees the porous U.S./Mexican border as a threat to national security, and source of a heightened risk of identity theft.
Holding a sign reading, "It's not a racial issue," Lassen of Taylorsville was among about 60 people who participated in the Utah Minuteman Project's first protest Friday outside Zions and Wells Fargo branch- es on Highland Drive.
"To me, the government would have you believe they don't have the resources to keep the borders, immigration, under control, even after Sept. 11," said Lassen.
The Minutemen were protesting the two banks' acceptance of the Mexican matricula consular card and the new Utah driving privilege card as identification to open ac- counts.
In the last legislative ses- sion, the driving privilege card was created to replace illegal immigrant drivers' licenses. Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, who sponsored the legislation creating the cards, which can't be used for government identification, said the Legislature intentionally didn't dictate whether or not private businesses would be allowed to accept the cards.
"I would classify it as irresponsible and discriminatory if we were not to accept them," said Zions spokesman Rob Brough.
Minuteman organizer Alex Segura said the banks are encouraging illegal immigration by accepting the cards. Segura said that if the border were sealed, and if benefits such as jobs and bank accounts weren't available, the illegal immigrants would go home on their own.
"This is about illegal immigrants, whatever country they're from," Segura said. "We're just exercising our rights as American citizens."
Lori Koontz of Farmington, whose sign read "If you're illegal, welcome to Utah," said passersby had mixed reactions, "thumbs up, or the middle finger."
One woman, who asked not to be identified because she has Latino friends, said "We do not in any way, even to the slightest degree, hold the Hispanic people responsible."
Latino community activist Tony Yapias, who monitored the protest, sparked some reaction from the Minutemen when he passed out a recent Anti-Defamation League report that some anti-immigration groups are reaching out to white supremacists.
Yapias, a naturalized citizen from Peru, said "it's offensive" that a few Minutemen confronted him, saying "his Mexican government" is corrupt.
"I wasn't trying to tell them they are racist," Yapias said. "They are targeting a specific race, 'my people' according to them. . . . It's targeting an ethnic group, the Latinos here."
The Minutemen accused Yapias of "playing the race card."
Diane Johnson of West Valley City shook hands with Yapias, then said, "You have no right, calling (Segura) racist. He is not racist. . . . This has to do with breaking the law. . . . What about my grandchildren's future?"
E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com
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