But she and her followers are perfectly willing to mix it up with pro-immigrant groups, and there was some yelling across Postville’s main street Sunday. While Hendrycks said she insists that members of her organization behave, she tells of repeatedly hearing “KKK” and “racist” shouted at her at previous rallies.

“If you have 20 Hispanics standing there yelling ‘KKK’ and I scream, ‘Go back to Mexico,’ guess who’s the ‘racist’?” she said.

Unity with the people

Bustos came to Minnesota from Mexico several years ago. He said his family has followed the immigration rules to the extent that one sister has been waiting in Mexico for her visa for 14 years.

He attended MSU and has been working for Centro Campesino, an organization promoting the rights of migrant farmworkers and rural Latinos in southern Minnesota, for nearly five years.

Bustos’ goal, in part, is to make people see immigrants in a way that goes beyond stereotypes and preconceptions. He wants southern Minnesotans to understand the challenges facing new immigrants as they adapt to a new culture, a new language and a new economy.

“It’s not about people anymore,” he said of opponents of immigration. “It’s just about criminals, it’s about other things. They’re missing the other side, the human faces — that it’s people that are suffering.”

As for rallies like Sunday’s, Bustos said immigrant-rights groups have mixed feelings about their usefulness.

“That’s a debate we have before we go out and take to the streets,” he said. “I think there’s two things that can be gained. One is the awareness you create, especially when television and the media cover it.

“The other is to give a sense of empowerment and encouragement and unity with the people who are affected.”

Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Reform and other similar groups from a handful of Midwestern states knew they’d be outnumbered Sunday, but Hendrycks said it’s important to get the message out that many Americans want illegal immigrants gone.

“The bottom line is there’s a lot of angry Americans, and I’m one of them, because our government is not looking out for their best interests,” she said. “Unfortunately, the no-action by our government is just adding to the frustration and animosity.”

Hendrycks said her organization believes the nation’s borders need to be tightly sealed, that protections and benefits must be eliminated for illegal immigrants, and that employers have to be punished if they hire illegals.

“You take away the perks and the jobs, and they will go back to their own countries,” she said.