Click here to read Nevada County Union Article from 4/30/2008

Logue for Assembly Announces

the Secure our Borders Bus Tour!

From the border to the Sierra

Minutemen co-founder to address area residents on illegal immigration

BY PAT BUTLER, pbutler@theunion.com
12:01 a.m. PT Apr 30, 2008
One of the leading proponents of a border fence and other measures to crack down on illegal immigration will be speaking next week in Nevada City as part of the “Secure Our Borders” campaign tour.

Chris Simcox is the co-founder of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, an organization that has attracted national attention – and some criticism – for organizing volunteers to patrol the southwestern U.S. border and orchestrating a campaign to force the federal government to get tougher on illegal immigration.

Third Assembly District candidate Dan Logue is bringing Simcox to the area for a three-day tour that starts at 11:30 a.m. May 7 at Trolley Junction restaurant, 400 Railroad Ave., Nevada City. The event is open to the public, but lunch costs $12 at the restaurant.

California senator and 4th Congressional District candidate Tom McClintock is joining the tour.

After the Nevada City stop, Simcox is scheduled to speak in Susanville, Quincy, Oroville and Loma Rica in Yuba County, said Logue, a Yuba County supervisor and Realtor in Marysville.

Sue Horne, a Nevada County supervisor and Logue’s opponent in the June 3 Republican primary, did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment on the tour.

Relatively few Mexican immigrants reside in western Nevada County – about 2,000, according to one church that has an outreach program. Nevertheless, illegal immigration is the top issue in the larger district, Logue said Tuesday.

“This is crippling the economic future of California,” Logue said. “They (illegal immigrants) have to play by the same rules and abide by the laws of the land that have been ignored.”

Logue supports a border fence, making proficiency in English a requirement of citizenship, legislation to bar illegal immigrants from attending public schools and “turning off the immigrant magnet.”

The Republican candidate said he believes the lure of free health care and public education costs the state millions that it no longer can afford, and that “sanctuary cities” like San Francisco and Los Angeles need to be denied federal funding.

Logue’s positions mirror those of Simcox, a lightning rod in the immigration wars who has been interviewed by CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, PBS, USA Today and countless right-wing radio talk show hosts.

Simcox, 46, is a former Los Angeles kindergarten teacher who moved in 2003 to southern Arizona, where he bought the Tombstone Tumbleweed and launched the movement that has made him a hero to some and an enemy to others.

Organizations including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Council of La Raza have accused Simcox of “hate-mongering.”

Simcox was not available to be interviewed on Tuesday, according to a representative from the Minutemen organization.