Supports Arizona's border fight

They were met with shouts of support and digital expressions of disagreement.

Both were welcome by the Corning Tea Party Patriots as they held a rally Thursday evening supporting Arizona's controversial illegal immigration law which went into affect that same day.

More than 60 people gathered at the intersection of Solano Street and Edith Avenue displaying the American flag and holding posters stating, "Pro Legal Immigration," "A Nation of Legal Immigration," and "I support Arizona SB 1070," to name a few.

"We have people who have come here from Red Bluff, Los Molinos and other areas to participate," said party member Marcia Holtzclaw.

Sue Blackburn, who has lived in Corning most of her life, joined the rally.

"I'm like most of the people here who haven't ever done something like this before, but we're going to lose our country if we don't stand up and do something," she said.

Holtzclaw said the group had a few people shout "racist" at them in Spanish.

Her husband, Mike Holtzclaw, said he joined the rally to express his support of the right to state sovereignty.

"I also support the states' rights to enforce laws the federal government is refusing to enforce," he said. "Simply, the immigration argument stops with the word illegal, and our government should not be able to choose what laws they will and won't enforce."

As a woman stopped at the stoplight on Solano Street, she rolled down her window and shouted to the group, "I'm glad someone is actually doing this. I like it."

"Some people think this is an attack on Hispanics," said Brad Call, who was part of the rally. "It's not. It is about trying to salvage our country and seeing that our laws are respected."

Mike Holtzclaw compared the abuse of illegal immigrants to slavery.

"Illegal workers come here and work for less than an honest wage. I believe that is some form of slavery, and we already fought a war in this country to abolish that," he said.

Born in Mexico, Rose Montoya, 48, of Corning, is a business owner and employee at Corning High School who has lived in the United States since she was 4.

"I have a green card and people like me who have lived in this country for so long consider themselves citizens of this country," she said.

"I believe even those from Mexico who come here illegally are a benefit to this government because they work in the fields and do stuff the white people won't do. Plus all the illegals who work here pay their taxes to this government and spend all their money here."

She feels people who cross the southern border to get into the States are doing it to survive and receive the benefits this country gives them.

"I just don't think the people in the rally understand the benefit it is to this country to have the immigrants here," Montoya said.