PROVIDENCE -- A motorcycle group's "21st Century Paul Revere Ride" roared into town yesterday to warn Americans against the "disastrous consequences" of illegal immigration. Organizers said those consequences range from "overpopulation," "crime" and "diseases" to "decimation of the middle class" and the "breakdown of civilization."

Counter-protesters gave them a hostile reception outside the State House, with clashing cymbals and bullhorn-amplified shouts of "Get Up! Get Down! Get the Racists Out of Our Town!"

"Oh yeah, this is about the tenth state where we've had opposition," said Howard J. Wooldridge, 55, of Colorado, ride coordinator and retired police detective. "We're here to open debate, and they're here to shut off debate."

Wooldridge said he advocates an end to illegal immigration by such means as "building a humane tall fence from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico," prosecuting companies that hire illegal immigrants, ending a "U.S. open-border policy" and stopping "automatic citizenship for 'anchor babies'." (Anchor babies are children born to people who are in the country illegally.)

After that, said Wooldridge, "the discussion is, what number [of legal immigrants] to bring in every year."

The group's 17,000-mile journey to 48 state capitols began in Denver on May 29. It will end Saturday in Washington, D.C., Wooldridge said.

The confrontation yesterday reached high decibels but ended without incident.

"You like sitting down at the table and eating what immigrants have picked," a counter-demonstrator yelled at the bikers.

"They should try joining the military," a biker muttered in response.

Julio Cesar Aragon, president of the Mexican-American Association of Rhode Island, was among two dozen people from immigrant-advocacy groups who opposed the roughly equal number of Paul Revere riders.

"We are not criminals. We came to work here," said Aragon. "We are here to help this economy."

Robin Stott, a New London Motorcycle Club member, fumed as counter-demonstrators shouted slogans in Spanish.

"Did they ever think of yelling at us in English?" said Stott. "We've got people who've been here for 30 years and still don't speak English. Go home -- I have no tolerance for that."

Wooldridge and some of the other Paul Revere riders wore T-shirts emblazoned with "NumbersUSA," a group that Wooldridge said the riders are "loosely associated with."

NumbersUSA (www.numbersusa.com/index) says it is a "non-profit, public policy organization that favors an environmentally sustainable and economically just America." Its Web site calls illegal immigration "the U.S. overpopulation threat to environment, farmland, community quality of life, schools, wage fairness, [and] freedom."

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups and right-wing extremist organizations, NumbersUSA is one of the more moderate of a number of anti-immigration organizations financed by U.S. Inc., a nonprofit "conduit" organization founded by Michigan opthamologist John J. Tanton. Tanton denies that his group finances NumbersUSA.

Most of the Paul Revere riders were from Connecticut or Colorado, but several were Rhode Islanders. They included Bob Mageau, of Exeter, a machinist and member of the local "Wolf Pack" motorcycle group.

Mageau said illegal immigrants "are infringing on my ancestors' hard work to come to this country, [and] bypassing all the necessities to become an American."

Gordon Mathewson, who works in Cranston, said he was concerned that the U.S. border "is wide open to thousands coming over here daily," a policy he said President Bush could have stopped after the 9/11 terrorist attack.

"There's diseases coming across," said Mathewson. He added, "We are not racists. We love all races."

Patsy Stevens, a retired cafeteria worker from Narragansett, supported the bikers because "I think slowly, little by little, we're losing our country."

Alex Moore, a Providence City Council candidate, said his previous ideology was more in line with the Paul Revere riders, but that shifted after he worked with low-income tenants in South Providence.

"I don't think it's productive to be yelling back and forth. I'd like to see constructive dialogue," said Moore, "but I still wanted to stand in support" of the counter-demonstrators.

At 10:30 a.m., to chants of "Racists go home!", the Paul Revere riders pulled out of the State House lot and roared off to their next stop.

kziner@projo.com / (401) 277-7375