SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) – A group of conservative activists and parents whose loved ones were killed by undocumented immigrants held a rally in San Ysidro Friday in support of increased security at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Angel Families and conservative internet blogger Ben Bergquam held a news conference at the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry decrying immigrants living in the country illegally, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Chuck Schumer, the media and Democrats at large.
The group also voiced their support for President Donald Trump and his proposed border wall.
"Build the wall or shut it down," Bergquam said, seeming to reference Trump's threat to shut down the federal government over funding for the wall. "It's time that we protect American citizens. It's time that we protect American families."
Bergquam also claimed that asylum-seeking migrants and caravan members in Tijuana are funded by liberal organizations funded by such activists as Hungarian-American investor and philanthropist George Soros.
"We are fighting so that no other American family has to feel the pain and the grief that we do," said Mary Anne Mendoza, a representative of the national Angel Families organization. Her son, Sgt. Brandon Mendoza of the Mesa, Arizona Police Department was killed by a person living in the country illegally in 2014.
“He had driven over 35 miles wrong way on 4 freeways before slamming head on into my son before killing him, that’s when my fight began four and a half years ago and I will continue until Americans understand there are innocent Americans being killed because of unsecured borders,” Mendoza said. "We stand firm with President Trump. Angel Families supports him. Shut down the government. We need a stand alone border security act."
Mendoza’s son, Brandon was killed in May 2014 in Mesa, Arizona. He was just 32-years-old and a member of the police force for 13 years He died after his shift the night of Mother’s Day. For four years she says she’s been on a mission to fight for a solution to illegal immigration.
Mendoza says the miles of wire fencing across the border is not enough. She says too many people will get into this country without proper identification, which is something families who’ve lost loved ones say is not a risk this country should take.
On Monday, U.S. authorities arrested 32 people at a demonstration that was organized by a Quaker group on the border with Mexico. Demonstrators were calling for an end to detaining and deporting immigrants and showing support for migrants in a caravan of Central American asylum seekers.
More than 300 people, many the leaders of churches, mosques, synagogues and indigenous communities, participated in the demonstration at San Diego's Border Field State Park, which borders Tijuana, Mexico.
The rally held on a beach divided by the border wall was the second confrontation for Border Patrol agents since a caravan of more than 6,000 migrants, predominantly Hondurans, reached Tijuana last month.
A March 2018 report published in the journal Criminology found that from 1990 to 2014, states with more immigrants living there tend to average less violent crime percentage wise than states with fewer immigrants here illegally.
The group of angel families and activists plan to hold a second rally Saturday at 11 a.m. on the San Ysidro Port of Entry bridge.
Representatives from Protect America First, former Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio's political action committee, will attend the rally, Bergquam said.
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