Progress Illinois

After a 24-hour prayer vigil at a local Catholic church, hundreds of immigrant rights supporters carrying signs that read "The Minutemen Are Not Welcome" and "The New KKK" gathered on the four corners of Depaul University's campus last night to protest what activists were calling a hate speech from Minuteman Civil Defense Corps President Chris Simcox. Despite a warning from Minutemen Illinois Director Rosanna Pulido that the Chicago Police Department's armory of machine guns "may come in handy," no violence was reported and the presentation was not interrupted.

Representing what Nicholas Hahn, president of the DePaul Conservative Alliance, called "the conservative opinion on the issue of legal immigration," Simcox delivered his remarks to 200 students. He said the controversy surrounding his visit was "part of the agenda of the open borders lobby" and not a reaction to his organization's legally questionable detention tactics. Professor of religious studies Charles Strain gave a dissenting viewpoint. ABC 7 News reported that he "said he wanted to make it clear to the audience that Simcox's ideas directly contradict the core values of Depaul University and, in fact, called the Minutemen a detriment of solving the problem of immigration reform."