Anti-immigration activists are fired up about the possible inclusion of some benefits for illegal immigrants in health care reform legislation. ”For 14 years, the Federation for American Immigration Reform has sponsored a mass lobbying campaign they call Hold Their Feet to the Fire. According to FAIR spokesman Ira Mehlman, this year’s event, coming days after the 9/12 ‘taxpayer march on Washington,’ was the biggest yet,” writes Dave Weigel at The Washington Independent, our sister site.

But for some, the campaign is thinly disguised bigotry. As Weigel writes:

…“The people who are lobbying here today make no distinction between documented and undocumented,” said Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), who said he became aware of FAIR thanks to the “bizarre” faxes they sent to his office. “This is about bigotry on one side and humanity on the other.” After the vigil, Polis told TWI that Wilson’s outburst had caused a “backlash,” and “provided momentum for comprehensive immigration reform” as well as making Democrats’ work a little easier on health care.

You can read the whole story, “Illegal Immigration Foes See Opportunity After Wilson’s Outburst,” at The Washington Independent.