Phyllis Sears, who chairs the citizens group, disagreed with his assessment of history.

"Well, this is one Anglo who did that," said Sears. "When I hear the comment that Americans won't do the job, it's really that Americans won't do the job for that salary."

Sears advocated passage of a national bill that would tax wages of illegal immigrants by "5, 8 or 10 percent."

"That would, at least, keep some of their money here," she said. "They're paying very little, if any, taxes."

Mexican identification cards, which are issued by the Salt Lake City Mexican Consulate to Mexican nationals, are bogus IDs, Sears added.

"You don't need that card unless you're an illegal alien. They're using it to open bank accounts. In no way can that ID be considered legal," she said.

One member of the audience suggested immigrants should be stopped from sending money home to their families in other countries.

"The second-largest income to Mexico is remittances from the U.S.," said Jim Flohr, a member of the citizens council. He provided a two-page compilation of immigration statistics and said 12 percent of the U.S. population was born in other countries.

Sears said she believes most of the illegal immigrants who arrive in the United States to work menial jobs are "decent, caring people with third- to sixth-grade educations."

"If we make these people green-card holders, they're not going to stay on the farms, they'll leave and go to the cities," she said. "We have about five years max to fix this problem for our country, or we'll never have the country of our forefathers ever again."

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com