Members of the National Socialist Movement, a Detroit-based neo-Nazi group, rallied against illegal immigration at the state Capitol on Saturday.
The group of about 75 people spoke about fighting for white civil rights and gave speeches discrediting the need for illegal immigrants as migrant workers.
They exchanged verbal insults with a larger number of protesters during the “America First” rally in downtown Phoenix.
Comments like “You are nothing more than the puppets of farm pickers” and “You are the social parasites of this country” were shouted at protesters.
Both sides had to be separated by police to prevent the situation from becoming violent.
George Garcia, a justice studies junior, attended the protest on the recommendation of a professor. He said he was shocked at what the professor told the class and wanted to see the event for himself.
“I can’t understand how people in this day and age advocate what they’re here doing,” Garcia said. “I just had to see it.”
Will Greene, a business sustainability sophomore and friend of Garcia, said he was shocked to see people in military and Nazi uniforms.
“I just don’t understand how they can relate themselves to patriotism in the United States, when what they stand for is completely opposite of what America is about,” Greene said.
The National Socialist Movement marchers declined to comment about the event, but members of the group could be heard shouting anti-Semitic viewpoints and other racial slurs to the crowd.
Ezra Niesen, a protestor at the rally, said he understands that people have opposing viewpoints when it comes to illegal immigration but thinks there are other ways of vocalizing them.
“They have a right to say what they think,” Niesen said. “But they’re threatening to kill people. There should be a limit to what you can say; you shouldn’t be allowed to threaten people.”
He protested the rally, because he said there’s no need for racism in Phoenix. Like many other protestors, Niesen said he went to the event to oppose the group so it didn’t go unchecked.
“You have people coming out here to win a little support here and a little support there,” Niesen said. “That’s what happened in Germany too. People tried ignoring them, and they didn’t go away.”
Reach the reporter at dbjoraas@asu.edu.
