NORTH COUNTY - Anti-illegal immigration activists and their supporters plan to camp Saturday near migrant camps in McGonigle Canyon to protest illegal immigrants living in the area.

The event was widely promoted earlier this week by radio talk-show host Rick Roberts, on Web sites and via e-mail by the San Diego Minutemen, a North County-based, anti-illegal immigration group. Roberts and Jeff Schwilk, founder of the San Diego Minutemen, could not be reached for comment.

Julie Adams, a Rancho Penasquitos resident who lives less than a mile from the camps, said the shanties and the people living in them create numerous problems, including crime, pollution and fire hazards. She said she plans to participate in the camp event to raise awareness about the situation.

"This is a huge problem," Adams said. "Migrant camps in the canyon are dangerous."

An estimated 300 to 500 workers live in the canyon camps near Torrey Santa Fe Road and State Route 56. Most work in nearby agriculture fields, at nurseries and construction sites and as day laborers. Many are illegal immigrants from Mexico who say they can't afford the high cost of rents in North County.

Immigrant rights activists say the city is working to remove the camps. Claudia Smith, a longtime activist, said the goal of those organizing the protest is to harass the workers.

"This is just to hassle and intimidate the migrants silly," Smith said. "(The camp) is being closed down once and for all."

McGonigle Canyon falls within the jurisdiction of the city of San Diego and has been home to migrant workers for decades.

In the late 1980s, entire families lived in holes dug in the ground or shacks made of wood and plastic tarps. In the mid-1990s, most of the families were moved out of the camps and into apartments by nonprofit agencies, activists and city officials.

Though much of the agricultural land is being transformed by housing developments, migrants continue to live and work in the area. Farmworker advocates say the workers, predominantly men, are forced to live in the canyons and brush by the high cost of living and their need to save money to send to their families.

But critics say the camps attract criminals, drug addicts and prostitution. They point out that beer cans, condoms and syringes litter the camps. Without running water, the migrant workers use a stream at the bottom of the canyon to bathe, wash clothes and cook, critics say.

In an e-mail, activists invited people to attend Saturday's event.

"Stay a couple of hours," according to the e-mail. "Tour this authentic Oaxacan third world village right here in America, or stay the whole night and fiesta with the illegals!"

Jose Gonzalez, an immigrant rights activist from Oceanside, said the message makes it clear that event organizers are not interested in the welfare of the migrant workers, but rather aim to humiliate them.

"These are the same people that we see at day-labor sites," Gonzalez said. "I feel sorry for them, because they are the ones that say they are defending migrants, but when the cameras are not around, they insult them."

- Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.