Billboard erected by CCIR in 1998 was removed after Mario Obledo, co-founder of MALDEF, threatened to burn it down.When the California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR) in 1998 erected a billboard on the California/Arizona border reading,
"Welcome to California, the Illegal Imigration State. Don't Let This Happen to Your State," an infuriated Obledo issued a press release threatening to blow up or burn down the billboard. Caving to this intimidation, the company that had rented the billboard space to CCIR refunded the organization's fee and removed the offending (?) message.
In 1998 Obledo was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton.
"Welcome to California, the Illegal Imigration State. Don't Let This Happen to Your State," an infuriated Obledo issued a press release threatening to blow up or burn down the billboard. Caving to this intimidation, the company that had rented the billboard space to CCIR refunded the organization's fee and removed the offending (?) message.
In 1998 Obledo was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton.
In May 1998 Obledo articulated his racial agenda by stating,
"California is going to be a Hispanic state, and anyone who doesn't like it should leave. They should go back to Europe." "Eventually," he said the following month, "we [Hispanics] will take over all the political institutions of California."
