Calls, e-mails back police crackdown in Irving

Carolyn Hileman* | October 4, 2007

By PATRICK McGEE

IRVING — When pro-immigrant activists held a rally Wednesday against a police program that has led to more than 1,500 deportations this year, they told the crowd to call City Hall and demand an end to the program.

City officials said they were swamped with nearly 500 calls the next day. But the calls were overwhelmingly in favor of the police crackdown, called the Criminal Alien Program.

¡§We received a ton of phone calls at City Hall, ƒ|.ƒ|.ƒ|. and they have mostly been in support of our program,¡¨ Mayor Herbert Gears said. He said he also got 265 e-mails Thursday, only two of them opposing the program.

City Hall receptionist Edna Brown said she had about triple the number of calls she usually gets.

¡§It was so many calls, I even had 45 calls on hold,¡¨ she said. ¡§The majority of them were for it, and not that many were against it.¡¨

One of the organizers of Wednesday¡¦s rally, Carlos Quintanilla, said he was undaunted by the city¡¦s assertion and accused Gears and his staff of lying.

¡§They¡¦re trying to rally their base,¡¨ Quintanilla said. ¡§Their base is not as passionate as us.¡¨ Quintanilla said he will focus on getting Hispanics elected to office in Irving. The City Council has no Hispanic members.

¡§We¡¦re going to shock Irving when we take power,¡¨ Quintanilla said.

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