Today, one day after St. Patrick’s Day, Sandy Rios of the American Family Association fumed on her radio show that show that the main street of her neighborhood was closed for two hours last weekend because Mexican-Americans were holding a parade while carrying a statue of a saint. Such parades, she said, represent a Mexican “invasion” of America, unlike Irish parades to mark St. Patrick’s Day, which she said are acceptable just because.
“We are importing criminals, we are importing people who have no means of support. You know, when our immigration program was strong and working the way it should, people could not come to the country unless they had a sponsor, someone to help them find a job, someone to help take care of them,” she claimed. “They didn’t come in and sign up for American taxpayer dollar benefits, they were not a drain, they were in fact a great boon, a great blessing and gift to this country because they came and they worked hard and they became Americans. They didn’t demand that their culture be transported into this country and resented if it isn’t.”
She went on to blast the “huge Mexican parade” in her town that she suspects was filled with undocumented immigrants: “They closed one of the main arteries for at least two hours, the music was unbelievably loud, everyone was dressed in Mexican costumes, they were marching some sort of a saint, I don’t know who it was, and the streets were just filled with Mexican nationals who, maybe they’re citizens but I sort of don’t think so.” “Like, we have Irish-American parades and I don’t mind people celebrating their ethnicity, what I do mind is an invasion without permission, I do not want American culture to be transformed into another culture,” she said. “I do resent any kind of push to supplant that with something that has produced poverty and dependence, it is not a system of government or way of life that we want to mainstream.” AUDIO
