Billboard Touts Americas Immigration Position

The debate over immigration is extending to a billboard on I-95 in Miami. The Grassfire.org Alliance says it has erected a billboard that states: "Stop the Invasion Secure Our Borders" at 79th Street facing south. The conservative citizen activist group, which put its first billboard up in Dallas, this week is adding Atlanta and Miami, with future plans for Phoenix, Georgia and Louisiana. Ron De Jong, the group's communications director, said Grassfire.org Alliance had two reasons for choosing South Florida. "No. 1, we chose it because we have a very strong grassroots presence in Florida. We have a great deal of support coming out of Florida for such a board." The second reason is "South Florida has a major influx of illegal aliens - and legal, as well - but we're not opposed to legal immigrants," he said, adding that the group likes legal immigrants. De Jong said he has a relative active in the construction industry in South Florida who has been frustrated trying to figure out whether documentation provided by workers is accurate."I feel for those kinds of companies, but those other companies that don't care and will take anybody - those are the ones we are taking exception to," he said. The group's president, Steve Elliott, plans to be in Miami on Thursday to unveil the billboard, but De Jong said motorists can already see it. Grassfire.org's Web site pitches visitors to sponsor billboards at the rate of $25 a square foot. The group opposes what it calls an amnesty proposal for illegal immigrants by the Senate. President George W. Bush, in a speech Monday night, outlined what appeared to be middle ground between the Senate and the sterner House proposals to deal with immigration.