Immigration debate grips Minn. city

AUSTIN, Minn. — The men watching a friendly game of Clubs at Jerry's Card Room say they welcome Hispanic immigrants — as long as the newcomers are in the USA legally.

"If they're not, ship them out," says John Leachman, 82, a retired Hormel Foods meatpacking plant worker.

"I agree with deporting the illegals. I agree with that 100%," says owner Jerry Salisbury, 68, who grew up here and moved back after retiring from the Navy.

Their views are not unusual in this city of about 23,000, where an influx of Hispanics has made immigration a topic of heated debate. A plane flew over the Mower County Fair this month towing a banner reading "Keep America great — deport illegals." At a forum last week that drew 150 people, almost all of them Anglo, Ruthie Hendrycks of Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Reform said that if immigration laws aren't enforced, "anarchy is going to come. … How many of us can commit a crime and get away with it?" ....