Carlsbad Unified School District to allow immigration meeting

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer | Tuesday, August 9, 2005 11:24 PM PDT ∞

With a lawsuit hanging over the school district's head, Carlsbad Unified School District Superintendent John Roach announced late Tuesday that he was backing down from his cancellation of a town-hall meeting on illegal immigration.

The decision ---- "effective immediately," Roach said ---- came on the eve of a court hearing on the matter.

Citing concerns about possible acts of violence by protesters, Roach last week canceled a permit that the school district had issued in early July to state Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, to hold the forum, titled "The Illegal Immigration Crisis." The forum is scheduled for Thursday.

But Roach had a change of heart, he said, after school district lawyers reviewed his decision and advised him that the school district's cancellation of the event could violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

"I really believe the First Amendment issues regarding free speech outweighed the concerns I had regarding crowd behavior," Roach said Tuesday.

The decision followed Monday's announcement by Morrow that his attorney had filed a lawsuit against the school district to force district officials to reinstate his permit. The lawsuit was filed Monday and cited several court decisions to bolster its contention that "the cancellation is unconstitutional under both the United States and California constitutions."

Neither Morrow nor his attorney could be reached late Tuesday for a reaction to the latest decision by the school district. It was unclear what would happen to the lawsuit now that the permit has been reinstated.

Morrow has invited several well-known guest speakers to participate in the town-hall meeting that will focus on how illegal immigration affects health care, homeland security, education, the economy and the environment. One of those speakers, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, has become a leading national figure in the fight for stricter enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. Conservative radio talk-show host Roger Hedgecock is scheduled to be the emcee of meeting, which will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at Carlsbad High School's Community Cultural Arts Center, 3557 Lancer Way, Carlsbad.

Recent months have seen an increasing polarization of opinions on the issue of illegal immigration. Confrontations and acts of violence have occurred at several rallies in Southern California. Those incidents, and concerns about similar acts occurring in Carlsbad, led Roach to make his initial decision to cancel the event, he said Tuesday.

A San Diego-based immigrant rights activist said Tuesday that, while he respects the First Amendment rights of anti-illegal immigration groups, he thinks that holding the town-hall meeting is a mistake.

"People have freedom of speech, but it's like yelling 'fire' in a crowded movie theater," said Enrique Morones, a spokesman for Gente Unida, which recently staged angry protests at the U.S.-Mexican border in Campo during the last month. The group was protesting a border watch vigil being held there by the California Minuteman Project, an organization fighting for stronger enforcement of U.S. immigration law and protection of the country's borders. Morones has characterized the Minuteman volunteers and other similar groups as racist.

An authority on First Amendment issues said Tuesday that the school district could probably expect to lose in court if it pushed ahead with its decision not to allow the meeting.

Governments cannot allow generalized fears of what might happen to intimidate them into restricting free speech, said Terry Francke, general counsel for Californians Aware, the Center for Public Forum Rights. Francke also served as general counsel for the California First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit corporation that defends the public's right to participate in government.

"If bullies are led to believe that their tactics will intimidate speech and the government as well, then speech is one constitutional right that has no guardian, and that is a very troubling prospect," said Terry Francke.

Francke said Tuesday that unless a specific threat was made ---- one that law enforcement officials believe they would not be able to address ----- canceling the event would raise constitutional questions.

"Simply pointing to violence or conflicts elsewhere comes close to what the courts call the "Heckler's Veto," Francke said. "It gives those who would deny free speech a veto ---- and that the government is not permitted to do."

Morones said Morrow can expect human rights advocates to show up at the Thursday meeting.

"If you are going to be promoting hate, you are going to attract people that are opposed to that point of view," Morones said Tuesday. He added that has a trip scheduled to Mexico on Thursday. But if he returns in time, he will "try and be there."

"They have to be ready for a lot of people who don't (accept) their views and there will be a strong presence there," he said.

Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426, or wbennett@nctimes.com.