Presidential candidate Alan Keyes to visit Provo for border control debate
Monday, June 19, 2006
Presidential candidate Alan Keyes to visit Provo for border control debate
Daily Herald
Former diplomat and presidential candidate Alan Keyes will weigh in on the debate on immigration and border security in Provo Wednesday.
The event is free and open to the public. A spokeswoman for the Minuteman political action committee is scheduled to speak as well, and there will be a screening of the documentary "Cochise County: Cries from the Border." The Arizona county is on the border with Mexico.
One of the event's organizers said Keyes is coming to Utah because of the recent visit of Mexican President Vicente Fox and the focus on immigration reform in the high-profile contest between incumbent U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, and businessman John Jacob in the Third Congressional District primary.
"Utah found itself in the media nationally because of the visit of Vicente Fox , which involved the head of a nation coming to Utah to lobby the Senate," said Stephen Stone, Web site editor of Renew America, a conservative advocacy group chaired by Keyes. "There's also, of course, the timeliness of the Third District race. The whole nation is looking at this race."
Minuteman PAC spokeswoman Carmen Mercer also is scheduled to speak. The Minutemen Civil Defense Corps is a volunteer group that monitors traffic across the U.S.-Mexico border and is building a border fence on its own near Naco, Ariz.
Keyes has called for a National Border Guard, similar to the Coast Guard, as an element of the armed forces, supplemented by a citizens' auxiliary that would act as spotters.
He also has supported the Minutemen and has been critical of immigration proposals supported by President George Bush and the Senate, which include a guest worker program.
The initial focus needs to be on stopping the flow of illegal immigrants across the border, Keyes wrote in a recent article posted on www.renewamerica.us.
"We are not averse to opening a proper path to citizenship for any who truly wish to be Americans," he wrote. "But if we take steps in this direction without first securing the border ... any move to open this path will rightly be regarded around the world as a signal that we lack the political will to maintain and defend our border and our national identity."
Stone said Wednesday's event is a "voter education" forum and that Keyes has not endorsed either candidate in the Third District race.
Keyes served as ambassador to the U.N. Economic and Social Council and assistant secretary of state for international organizations under former President Ronald Reagan.
He ran unsuccessfully for one of Maryland's Senate seats in 1988 and 1992, and in 1996 and 2000 was a Republican candidate for president.
Keyes drew the support of 21 percent of voters in the 2000 Utah presidential primary, a better showing than U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Steve Forbes.
He also visited Utah in September 2000 for a well-attended speech at the McKay Events Center at Utah Valley State College.
"I always look forward to coming to Utah," Keyes said in a statement. "This is a state where the people are committed to the faith, values, and decency that have made this nation strong and free."
Renew America, the Minutemen PAC and the Utah Eagle Forum are sponsoring the event.
Alan Keyes
6:30 p.m. Wednesday
Provo City Library
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.
