Kansas City News Blog

Anti-illegal immigration activists rallied at the Kansas capitol on Saturday morning in a demonstration organized by the Heart of America chapter of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. But the chapter’s most controversial member – Frances Semler — didn’t make the trip to Topeka.

Semler was appointed to the Kansas City Parks board by Mayor Mark Funkhouser last week. Several local groups, including the Coalition of Hispanic Organizations, immediately called for her resignation because of her membership in the Minutemen — an organization they equate to a hate group because of its citizen border patrols and hardline stance on illegal immigration. On Thursday, the Kansas City council passed a resolution urging Semler to resign. On Saturday morning, after a week of heated press coverage, Semler didn’t attend the anti-illegal immigration rally that she’d helped put together.

Roger Thompson, a Kansas City Minuteman, was one of the coordinators for the Kansas rally. He explained that Semler originally was one of the event’s organizers. But she’d had to step back for personal reasons, so he took over as a pointman for the picket.

He said he’s always been very patriotic and a staunch supporter of George W. Bush. But when it comes to the president’s recent stand on immigration, he said, “[Bush] is killing the nation.” Thompson said he had nothing against folks who enter the country legally -- his neighbor from Tibet just got her citizenship, and he went next door to congratulate her. Illegal immigrants, on the other hand, are draining public resources and flaunting U.S. law while they’re doing it, he said.

While Thompson spoke, a young couple sporting American flag T-shirts held signs readings “Border, Language, Culture” in large block letters. A man in a black leather vest held a stenciled placard that listed a phone number for reporting illegal aliens to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. An elderly couple sat serenely in their lawnchairs with signs alleging “Illegals Laugh At American Laws” and demanding “No Amnesty for Illegals; Stop the Anarchy.”

Mark Paddy, a Kansas City resident, said he’d been one of the “scouts” for a recent Minuteman picket in Overland Park. He said that for eight days in a row, he’d spent six hours a day picketing a construction site at 116th Street and Pflumm, where Minutemen believe undocumented workers were employed. Ed Hayes, the Kansas Minuteman director, told the Pitch that 25 “illegals” had walked off that site the first day. The next day, another 15 left. Paddy said he’d been gathering information about another construction project in North Kansas City and the Minuteman might be back on the construction picket line as early as this week.

Paddy bristled at the controversy surrounding Semler’s appointment to the parks board. He said people used to discriminate against members of the National Rifle Association – an organization he’s been a member of for years — because they had false stereotypes about gun owners. He said the same thing is happening to Semler and that she should be left alone to do her job.

Hayes agreed. He said Semler’s opponents have an “agenda.”

“Frances is a sweet lady,” he said. “She has no ill intent. She’s like the rest of us; she wants the illegals to go home.”

Later, Semler told the Pitch that her no-show in Topeka had nothing to do with a week’s worth of debate about her affiliation with the Minutemen. In fact, she said, she strongly agrees with the “No Amnesty” crowd that rallied this weekend.

“I’ve been an advocate for the rule of law since ’86 when they [Congress] proceeded to not do a thing [about illegal immigration],” she said.

So it wasn’t the outcry against her appointment that convinced her to keep her distance from the sign-wielding crowd at the capitol. “I’m kind of a busy person; it’s a time thing,” she said. “You only have time for so much. But I do believe in the cause. ” – Carolyn Szczepanski