Lansing — The brigade of motorcycles known as the 21st Century Paul Revere Riders rolled up to the Capitol Thursday morning to warn Americans of the consequences of loose immigration laws, founder Frosty Wooldridge said.
Lansing marks the 23rd state Capitol in the riders' journey to protest at 49 Capitols across the continental U.S., starting in Colorado and ending in Washington, D.C.
Wooldridge, an MSU graduate, said the form in which he planned to spread the message is modeled after those who have made a change in society.
"Paul Revere created the 'tipping point' — someone stands up and makes a difference," he said.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Susan B. Anthony are two of many activists Wooldridge cited for implementing the "tipping point" — rallying supporters behind them to create societal changes. Dressed in a T-shirt with "Stop illegal immigration, ask me how" written in black and an American flag bandana wrapped around his head, Wooldridge talked about his experiences and his book, "Incursion into America: How Immigration Adversely Affects American Citizens."
The five Riders who have been with the group full-time have traveled 11,000 of the 14,000-mile journey, Wooldridge said. The motorcyclists are joined by others as they travel to each location. Some states have brought in larger crowds than others, and a few times rallies have had counterprotests, he said.
Luke Massie, national co-chairman of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary, or BAMN, said America is a nation of immigrants and sees the reduction of immigrants as a racial issue.
"Young Latino people are tired of second-class treatment," Massie said. "There is a long, proud tradition in this country of people standing for equal rights and civil rights. That is going to continue on a massive basis."
Wooldridge said he has traveled to every continent but Africa and added the effects he witnessed of overpopulation are what's driving him to inform Americans and push for tighter immigration laws.
"Through my travels, I've seen what's coming, and because of that … I want to educate — because with education comes awareness, with awareness comes debate," he said. "We're talking about societies at odds with themselves. When the rate of immigration exceeds the rate of assimilation, it is the recipe where society breaks down."
The riders have "Six Keys to Success" they promote in each state, Wooldridge said. The keys include building a tall fence from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, incarcerating employers who provide jobs for illegal immigrants, providing no amnesty — no pardons for illegal entrance to the United States, increasing troops on the southern U.S. boarder, stopping the automatic citizenship given to children born to illegal immigrants and drastically reducing all the facets of illegal immigration, he said.
"Give me one advantage of adding 200 million people to the U.S.," Wooldridge said. "It's so bad over in Asia, they can't solve it."
Ideally, the Riders said the U.S. would return to the traditional number of immigrants, which at one point was 200,000 a year.
As for legislation, Massie said BAMN will not accept any legislation that legitimizes second-class status. Walt Holden, a lieutenant in the Lansing Fire Department, came out on his Harley-Davidson to join the Riders.
"These folks are not against immigration; they are pro-immigration ? but (the issue is) when you're talking about 30 million illegal immigrants," Holden said.
He said being on this side of the fence is strange, since he is usually the one helping plan the city's response to rallies.
"All these folks are saying is this transcends politics. … This is a national crisis," he said. "We need to know who comes into our country, and who leaves it."
Michigan provided only a few supporters ready to rally, so the planned speaking event was canceled, and the motorcyclists headed on to Livonia.
