MESA, Ariz. (AP)- As thousands marched through the streets of Phoenix demanding immigration reform, nearly 200 other demonstrators stood in front of the state Capitol, calling for a crackdown on illegal immigrants and tighter border security.
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One ballot proposal would impose tough legal and financial penalties against employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers. The other would require local police to enforce federal immigration law.
State lawmakers delivered speeches calling for the federal government to seal off the nation's penetrable border with Mexico. ``The federal government seems to be going backward in immigration reform, especially when it comes to closing the border,'' said Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills.
Kavanagh also urged the red-white-and-blue-dressed crowd to sign the petitions and tell their friends and family to so as well.
Organizers said they were not ``counter-protesters.''
They described their effort as non-confrontational. ``We don't have an immigration problem, we have an illegal immigration problem,'' said ``Buffalo'' Rick Galeener, 56, who helped put the event together.
Galeener wore a shirt with an anti-illegal immigration slogan that read ``Illegal Aliens Undocumented Unlawful Unsanitary Unwanted.'' A patch on his jean jacket stated ``Riders Against Illegal Aliens.''
There were some tense moments between the two sides, however, as thousands of marchers approached the capitol. DPS and local police were called to break up a shouting match near the corner of 17th Avenue and Adams Street.
Phoenix police said there were no arrests as a result of the rallies.
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