“It’s like a member of the Ku Klux Klan” being appointed to the board, said Rita Valenciano, the president of the Coalition of Hispanic Organizations in Kansas City.
By DAVE HELLING
Frances Semler, a new appointee to Kansas City’s park board, is a member of the local Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, which strongly opposes illegal immigration and most immigration reform.
The group was founded in Arizona, where members detained illegal immigrants who tried to cross the border.
Critics call the group a vigilante organization and say Semler’s appointment is appalling.
One person who is not upset: Mayor Mark Funkhouser.
“I don’t think Frances Semler has views that I find unacceptable,” Funkhouser said. The mayor said he did not know of Semler’s membership in the group before the appointment.
“We have a problem with our own government which allowed this (illegal immigration) to happen,” she said. “They really made a mess of this.”
The group’s Web site says: “Our effort will be tangibly effective in supporting the defenders of our border, the patriotic men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol You will … assist their monumental task of turning back the tidal wave of people entering our country illegally.”