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Hayes: A homeless advocate and Minuteman?
Ted Hayes and other African-Americans join the Minuteman Project in its fight against illegal immigration, a phenomenon they say lowers job wages.
By Delana Gbenekama
The 4-1-1 Express
LOS ANGELES - Ted Hayes and a group of African-Americans across Los Angeles and the country are uniting with the Minuteman Project, a national organization that strongly opposes illegal immigration.
Minutemen at Feb. Hollywood rally.
Far left: Minuteman founder Gilchrist. Far right: Minuteman Ted Hayes.
Photo: Delana Gbenekama
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Some people have questioned how blacks, a group that has been oppressed for hundreds of years, dare oppose people who come to the United States for a better life.
People may also wonder how a homeless advocate such as Hayes, who founded a downtown housing facility for the homeless, is opposed to people who struggle to cross U.S. borders. For Hayes, the answer is simple.
"We fought for a long time to get good wage standards. They come in here and undercut our workers and work for salaries that our people will not and should not work for," he said.
Hayes and other blacks hold firmly to the statement made by Theodore J. Smith, chair of the California Democratic Party's African-American Caucus: The illegal immigration agenda is not a civil rights movement.
Hayes predicted that more African-Americans will soon join the anti-illegal immigration movement. "You're gonna see more and more strong militancy from blacks on this issue because they're killing us first and foremost, and they're robbing our civil rights."
Hayes and other Minutemen agree that illegal immigrants should be deported. "If they wanna be a part of this country, let them get in line with the rest of the immigrants from around the world," he said.
There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States to date, and about 3 million live in California.
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