A planned protest to block entry by illegal migrants along the Southwest border has been cancelled because protest organizers received death threats from Mexican drug cartels.
The protest against President Barack Obama's immigration policies and illegal immigration, in which activists planned to use vehicles to close down 17 entry points along the border in four states, had drawn 1,800 responses on a Facebook site but, organizer Stasyi Barth told
The Guardian, had to be called off.
"It was a cartel threatening a blood bath — Facebook hits coming en masse from Mexico," Barth told
The Blaze. "One of the organizers was being followed and was verbally told not to go."
"Law enforcement is involved and is investigating," Barth said.
The plan, called "Shut Down All Ports," was for activists to block the border on Saturday, and was also aimed at obtaining support for the plight of Marine Sgt.
Andrew Tahmooressi, two-tour veteran of Afghanistan suffering from PTSD, who was arrested and jailed in Mexico on March 31 with three loaded guns in his car after saying he made a wrong turn and did not intend to go to Mexico.
It is the second time in two months that death threats from Mexican drug cartels have caused cancellation of a protest, said organizer Eric Odom, who planned a 30-car convoy to protest the immigration situation in August.
"We had to cancel that because of death threats against our crew and convoy," Odom told the Guardian. "We're not into that. We are a very peaceful convoy, and we want to show that the border is very dangerous and open."
Border crossings in Arizona, New Mexico, California and Texas were to be blocked in the Saturday protest but, Barth told her supporters, "your lives, and the lives of our law enforcement, are more important than any protest," The Guardian reported.
Anticipating serious traffic snarls at the border, Ralph DeSio of Customs and Border Protection told the
Daily Pilot that CBP "has contingency plans ready to put into place in the event of any protest or a temporary blockage of traffic at our international border crossings.
"For security reasons, we do not discuss specifics regarding such plans. We work in close coordination with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners in order to respond to any situation that may occur at or near our ports of entry."
Barth told the Pilot she was aware she might face arrest.
"If that's what it takes, people long before me have been willing to risk everything to ensure that this country stays free and safe and remains true to the Constitution and Bill of Rights."
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