Illegal Immigration? Blame Satan!

by Jordan Yerman | April 28, 2007 at 08:12 am

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True enough, people are frustrated by illegal immigration in the United States, but perhaps calling them agents of evil may be going too far. Seriously, though, it's a bit disturbing when elected officials base their policy upon religious beliefs, as opposed to logical decisions.

Utah County GOP Chairwoman Marian Monnahan says District 65 Chairman Don Larsen's resolution - asserting that illegal immigration is the devil's plan to destroy the nation by "stealth invasion" - "in no way" is endorsed by the Republican Party.

"It's just free speech," Monnahan said Thursday. "It's Don's right to do that."

Provo Mayor Lewis Billings, a prominent Utah County Republican, says he understands Larsen's frustration with the federal government's slow response to immigration issues, but he doubts "there will be a lot of support for the resolution in its current form."

Party faithful will get the chance to discuss Larsen's resolution Saturday at the county's GOP convention. Monnahan notes Larsen, not the party, paid to print and distribute 1,300 copies of it for the gathering.

Larsen, who did not return a phone call or an e-mail seeking comment Thursday, is urging the closing of national borders to illegal immigrants to "prevent the destruction of the U.S. by stealth invasion."

"In order for Satan to establish his 'New World Order' and destroy the freedom of all people as predicted in the Scriptures, he must first

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destroy the U.S.," his resolution states. "The mostly quiet and unspectacular invasion of illegal immigrants does not focus the attention of the nations the way open warfare does, but is all the more insidious for its stealth and innocuousness."

Members of Utah's Latino community searched for diplomatic words to respond to the measure.

"It sounds like someone who is way out in left field, living in some fantasy world," said Tony Yapias, director of Proyecto Latino de Utah and former head of the state's Office of Hispanic Affairs. "He is just an extremist, radical right-winger."