Billboard gets mixed reactions
By MARTÍN E. MARTÍNEZ / Vida En El Valle
(Published Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 09:10AM)
SACRAMENTO -- Davi Rodríguez has one mission on his mind: to show the Sacramento people how detrimental illegal immigration could be for the community.
And to achieve that goal, Rodríguez has resorted to a publicity stunt: a wooden billboard with the slogan "Build the wall, deport them all," which he hauls across town with his truck.
"My intention is for people to be aware of how harmful illegal immigration could be. This is an educational task because many people don't know how bad illegals are in this city and nationwide," Rodríguez said.
He added that illegal immigration weakens the state economy and that the taxpayers are the ones responsible to pay for it.
The most common places where Rodríguez visits with the sign are the areas where undocumented workers gather looking for a job. He then takes some pictures and video of them to publish on his Web site saveourstate.com and YouTube.
According to Rodríguez, many people who see the billboard come up to him to express their anger but others approach him to show their support.
"Every day dozens of people are approaching me. In general I can say that almost 60 percent show me their support and tell me that there should be more people like me. That gives me a lot of satisfaction because there are a lot of people who think like me, a lot of people that want to see the undocumented out of the state and country," he said.
He added that on several occasions, the billboard has been vandalized by people who support undocumented immigrants, but that motivates him to keep his message going.
"This is a free country where every person can express whatever they want. If some people feel uncomfortable with this billboard I am sorry, but I am just doing what I think is the best for my country because there are a lot of things that need to change about illegal immigration," Rodríguez said.
Rodríguez also said that this message is geared to the federal authorities so they can recognize that undocumented people are a heavy burden on society. They need to approve an immigration reform and strengthen security on the border.
It's been almost a year since Rodríguez started his mission with the billboard and he says he will continue because the results have been very good.
But the people's point of view regarding his sign is completely divided.
While Rodríguez was parked outside the Capitol in Sacramento last week, Vida en el Valle asked several people their opinion regarding the message printed on the billboard.
"This is ridiculous," said John Strobel, who was walking in front of the billboard. "It's unbelievable how there are so many ignorant people in this state who believe that immigrants are negative for society; California's economy has always depended largely on the labor of immigrants. Taking them out of this country would be stupid."
René Ureña, another bystander, said he disagreed with the message because "you cannot blame the undocumented for all of the country's problems."
"It is true that undocumented immigrants live here illegally but that does not mean that the economy or the country's security will be affected. These people come to work very hard. The responsibility to solve the legal status of these people needs to come from the federal authorities and provide an immigration reform. That's the only way this problem could be fixed," Ureña said.
On the other hand, Sonya McConell, who stopped in front of the billboard just for curiosity, said she supports Rodríguez because any action to help finish with illegal immigrants is good and everybody needs to do something about it.
"I support this type of action because it is time that the government does something to forbid too many illegal immigrants from entering the country. Many of them (are) criminals, and just take advantage of the benefits they receive in hospitals or schools," McConell said.
Send e-mail to:
mmartinez@vidaenelvalle.com