Illegal immigration continued to be a hot-button issue in Southwest County -- so much so that a popular Los Angeles talk radio duo came to the region in support of a state border police initiative.

In the same year that activists took to patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the Minuteman Project and other similar efforts, KFI's John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou broadcast their daily show in November from Warm Springs Middle School in Murrieta to amplify the effort attempting to put the measure before voters.

The ballot initiative was the brainchild of Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, and though backers were unable to garner the 600,000 signatures necessary to get the measure on the June 2006 ballot, the initiative received a lot of local support. In August, more than 30 supporters rallied for four hours in front of Brunswick Cal Oaks Bowl in Murrieta with petitions in hand.

Murrieta wasn't the only place in Southwest County where anti-illegal immigration sentiment continued to simmer in 2005.

Among the Riverside County residents who went to Arizona as part of the Minuteman Project to patrol the border in early 2005 was Temecula resident Arne Chandler. At a rally in Naco, Ariz., Chandler said that the goal was to send a message to President Bush.

"What we hope this will accomplish is that our message will get back to Bush that the American public wants our immigration laws enforced and our borders secured," he said.

"Our word to him is that we are being vigilant, which is watchful," he added. "We're doing the job that he is not doing and that he is not letting our Border Patrol do."

In June, Temecula leaders got an earful from activists who contended that day-laborers in the city are illegal immigrants. The Temecula City Council was set to discuss possible ways to deal with day laborers loitering on Butterfield Stage Road, but were first bombarded with comments from riled residents.

One of those to address the council on June 28 likened the day-laborers' soliciting work on Butterfield Stage Road to prostitution.

"If there were illegal alien women and they were soliciting as prostitutes, I have no doubt Temecula would clean it up in 15 seconds," said anti-illegal immigration activist Freeman Sawyer, a former resident who is a member of the Temecula-based Citizens Alliance for a Secure America. "There should be equal treatment for men. They are violating laws."

To handle the day laborer situation, the city posted "No stopping" signs on Butterfield Stage Road -- with some apparent success. In October, police officials said that day laborers weren't standing around on the road as much as they used to.

And in February, some locals reacted just as forcefully to President Bush's renewed call for a guest-worker program for new foreign workers and undocumented immigrants.

Sawyer, again, was one of those who spoke up.

"I would say that this is absolutely the worst idea that has come along in a long time," Sawyer said. "We have currently in the U.S. an estimate of 20 million illegal aliens. We have 10 percent of Mexico's population living in our country. Most people are not interested in bringing more illegal aliens into the U.S., no matter what you call them or how you get them here. We have enough."

The reaction to Bush's plan wasn't all negative.

"A lot of people are hungry. There's no work in Mexico. (And when there is), they pay very little money," said Moses Lopez, a laborer who is working in the United States legally.

Still, anti-illegal immigration sentiment dominated the ongoing dialogue on immigration in 2005 in Southwest Riverside County.

Contact staff writer Jose Carvajal at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or jcarvajal@californian.com.