McMorris Rodgers had gathered faith-based leaders of the Latino community on Capitol Hill to, she said, talk about our shared goals for America with a half-dozen of her colleagues as part of a larger outreach effort.
At one point, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., addressed Hispanic media outlets in Spanish only to get heckled.
If they all learned English
someone shouted from the sidelines, then trailed off, as a woman arrived wielding a sign that read, Do not reward criminals, no amnesty for illegal aliens!!!
The speakers sought to brush it off.
I want to make a call for unity, said Becky Keenan, a pastor with the Gulf Meadows Church of Houston, Texas, a call for a tone that is civil, where we can discuss issues, see where we can compromise.
Across the East Front lawn, a woman was shouting wildly into a much louder microphone, almost drowning out Keenan. Protesters wore T-shirts emblazoned with American flags and tea party slogans, and they waved homemade signs that read, John Boehner: no amnesty, get a backbone, Boehner: go home, exporting illegals = importing jobs for Americans, stop socialism, and if we lose rule of law we become Mexico.
