An Arizona resident and Air Force veteran who is leading a Tuesday protest against the Obama administration’s plans to dump at least 40 illegal immigrant children in his community said Americans are becoming more “resentful” of the burdens the federal government is imposing on local communities like Oracle, Arizona.
On Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125, Bob Skiba, an 85-year-old veteran who is organizing protests for Tuesday morning, said, “We’re not going to put up with it.”
“We believe in the rule of law in the United States,” he told co-hosts Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon and Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow, noting that illegal immigrants should be treated like “citizens in this country are treated if we break a law or violate a law.” He said that “for some reason” illegal immigrants are “getting a pass.”
As Breitbart News reported, the “federal government is planning to relocate 40 unaccompanied alien children into an already-packed facility in the Sycamore Canyon Academy that houses wards of the state.” Skiba said he found out about the plans during a meeting with Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.
“I choked,” said Skiba said. He said he told Babeu, “We will take care of this.”
Skiba mentioned that there is a significant Hispanic community in Oracle, and he has “yet to find anyone who has said this effort is wrong.” He said he has, unlike the federal government, “been aboveboard,” even making his name and email address public.
“I have yet to receive one call from anyone saying, ‘Skiba, you’re going in the wrong direction,'” he stated.
At least 57,00 illegal immigration children have unlawfully entered the country since October of last year, and federal officials expect at least 150,000 more to do so next year. Citizens of Murrieta, California, successfully turned away bus after bus of illegal immigrant children, some of whom were later diagnosed with scabies. Federal officials have been dumping illegal immigrants in places like Arizona, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Illinois without telling state and local officials beforehand and then demanding the states use their limited resources to care for the illegal immigrants.
Skiba said there has been an “outpouring” of support for his efforts, with Americans in his community telling him, “We’ve had enough of this nonsense.”
“I’ve got so much response from people that I’m overwhelmed,” he said. “I don’t know how we’re going to handle all of the traffic in this area we’re going to mobilize.”
Skiba said the border crisis is “about American sovereignty” and emphasized that “this crisis has been a long time coming.” He said there are groups “out to destroy the Republic” and suggested that the federal government may have even given grants to religious organizations that may have known the flood of illegals was coming.
“It didn’t happen overnight,” he asserted.
Citing Nathan Hale and Patrick Henry, Skiba said that he regretted that he had “but one life to give for [his] country.” He emphasized, “I am proud to do what I’m doing.”