From: Rich Gauszka 


http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5756635

  PROVO - A Utah County Republican delegate may not be catching hell for
calling illegal immigration a satanic plot, but he isn't gaining any
converts, either.

     Utah County GOP Chairwoman Marian Monnahan says District 65
Chairman Don Larsen's resolution - asserting that illegal immigration is
the devil's plan to destroy the nation by "stealth invasion" -
"in no way" is endorsed by the Republican Party.
     "It's just free speech," Monnahan said Thursday. "It's
Don's right
to do that."

     Provo Mayor Lewis Billings, a prominent Utah County Republican,
says he understands Larsen's frustration with the federal government's slow
response to immigration issues, but he doubts "there will be a lot of
support for the resolution in its current form."

     Party faithful will get the chance to discuss Larsen's resolution
Saturday at the county's GOP convention. Monnahan notes Larsen, not the
party, paid to print and distribute 1,300 copies of it for the gathering.

     Larsen, who did not return a phone call or an e-mail seeking
comment Thursday, is urging the closing of national borders to illegal
immigrants to "prevent the destruction of the U.S. by stealth
invasion."
     "In order for Satan to establish his 'New World Order' and destroy
the freedom of all people as predicted in the Scriptures, he must first
destroy the U.S.," his resolution states. "The mostly quiet and
unspectacular invasion of illegal immigrants does not focus the attention
of the nations the way open warfare does, but is all the more insidious for
its stealth and innocuousness."

     Members of Utah's Latino community searched for diplomatic words to
respond to the measure.

     "It sounds like someone who is way out in left field, living in
some fantasy world," said Tony Yapias, director of Proyecto Latino de
Utah and former head of the state's Office of Hispanic Affairs. "He is
just an extremist, radical right-winger."

     Rolando Murillo, a volunteer for ACELA (the Latin American Cultural
and Education Association of Utah), is startled that anyone would believe
such a plot.

     "Everyone can have whatever beliefs they want to have," Murillo
said. "In the state of Utah, we're grateful that the vast majority of
people do not embrace these ideas."

     Satan has popped up in Utah County politics before. Last year,
failed congressional candidate John Jacob of Eagle Mountain blamed the
devil for his flagging campaign.

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