By JOHN NORTH

A so-called ìunholy allianceî of corrupt corporations, Congress, President Bush, both major political parties and the mainstream liberal-biased news media ó particularly the Asheville Citizen-Times newspaper ó was lambasted repeatedly during a Stop Illegal Immigration Rally last Saturday.

Leading the charge was William Gheen of Americans for Legal Immigration, a political action committee, who slammed the print media ó and the AC-T specifically ó several times.

Contrary to the mainstream mediaís focus, ìParis Hilton is not news!î Gheen said, prompting cheers from the crowd.

In the void left by the mainstream media, ìtalk radio, the Internet and the bloggers are getting it doneî in keeping the citizenry informed on issues such as immigration, Gheen asserted.

Despite the lure of a sun-splashed summer afternoon outside, the nearly three-hour session attracted about 120 people to Ferguson Auditorium in the Laurel Building at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. Features included speeches by six panel members and a question-and-answer session.

The rally, sponsored by The Action Club, revolved around its contention that America is in crisis because illegal immigration is out of control and the federal government is failing to do its job. The session was intended to unify and energize concerned Americans at the grassroots level.

More specifically, the speakers called for enforcement of immigration laws already on the books. Moreover, they urged the attendees to call, e-mail and confront officials in person to end support for a national immigration-reform measure that is to go before the Senate this week.

The measure would create a guest-worker program and allow most of an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to move toward legal status. It would also strengthen border and workplace enforcement.

After the rally, Action Club President Katherine Lack, a Barnardsville resident, told the Daily Planet that she was pleased with the program and the enthusiasm of the attendees, but was disappointed because she had expected the rally turnout to fill the 400-seat auditorium.

Besides speeches from the six panelists, the program included the showing of a 12-minute video titled ìImmigration By the Numbers,î featuring Roy Beck.

In the video, Beck termed the period from 1925 to 1965 as ìthe golden age of immigrationî in the United States, when an average of about 178,000 immigrants per year were allowed into the country. ìImmigrants were welcomedî by Americans during that period, he said.

In 1965, however, Congress raised the immigrant quota to an average of 500,000 per year. In the 1990s, the quota was raised to more than 800,000 immigrants per year, prompting concerns from Americans that they were being overwhelmed with immigrants, Beck contended. When illegal immigrants are included in projections, about 1 million immigrants per year is ìwhat we take in,î he said.

Beck also stated that there is now ìas much growth in population from immigrants as from the native population ... All the needs have doubled because of this.î He said California must build a new school daily ìin perpetuityî to handle the crush of immigrants.

Yet, he stressed, ìDonít be hostile to immigrants, but to our politicians for poor policies.î

About 25 percent of current U.S. immigrants are from Mexico, Beck noted. In Mexico, the residents earn about 10 percent of the average American paycheck. However, he stated that 4.6 billion people in the world ìare more impoverished than the average Mexican.î

ìThere are many ways America can help countries in other ways than via immigration,î Beck stated. ìThereís no way the U.S. can ever be a safety valve for the rest of the world.î

To that end, ìat present trends, the numbers in the United States will be off the chartsî soon, Beck said. ìThis is not conjecture ó this is what will be if Congress does not change current policies.î

ìItís very simple ó Congress merely has to lower the number (of immigrants) back to where it was in 1965î before the quota was increased, he concluded.