Did you know there's a "big" immigration thing happening in Washington DC this week? Probably not.
It is "Hold Their Feet To The Fire 2008".
Why would you not know about it and why will you not know that it even occurred?
Because Nobody In The Grassroots Was Invited
Unlike last year's Hold Their Feet To The Fire event where bloggers and other activists on the ground were invited to the event, this year's event invited no bloggers or grassroots activists. There is little to no web coverage of the event and therefore there will be no archiving of the event or original reporting of what happened there or that it even occurred other than maybe a little line entry on the tax forms that FAIR files each year as a non-profit.
They have invited many talk radio hosts to set up shop and get interviews with politicians. Once the words go out over the air though they are lost. They are gone. Any actions that citizen lobbyists take - and the stories they have regarding their meetings with their representatives - will be gone.
There is no centralized website to get the word out, like this one from last year. No YouTube group put together by people in the technical know in order to centralize videos and interviews, including all the speeches given in LaFayette Park and on the fly uploads.
There will be no concerted effort to hold any politicians feet to the fire when they treat citizens like crap and call the police on them for asking questions or throw them out of their office.
There will be no video of interviews with people affected by illegal immigration directly, like an interview with the mother of Amy Kortlang, who was killed by an illegal alien drunk driver.
No interviews with Border Patrol Agents who were unjustly imprisoned or were about to be imprisoned like Noe Aleman.
No coverage of rallies that occur at the event like the rally in front of the White House for Ramos and Compean or the march to the Justice Department.
No people there with such intricate knowledge of the daily happenings by the opposition on a national level that they would spot pro-illegal groups listed as signing into a reps guest book
Last year I was invited to come and help cover this event and report the truth along with others. I was invited and funded by my readers who so graciously donated to send me there and report back the truth. This year I did not even ask my readers to donate and send me there. I was not invited directly, I received a notice from FAIR just as everyone else on their email list did. Included in the invitational email was them asking me for money.
Going there as "just another attendee" would not have given me the access to areas that I would have needed to enter to actually get anything done or reported. Those areas required official sponsorship.
So basically I look at this year's event as a wasted chance at actually spreading the word about illegal immigration for today and in the future.
This is just one more example of how the big groups, who say they are opposed to illegal immigration, are trying to hold onto control of everything. In the meantime they are hindering the movement.
