Voice of the People USA co-founder Daniel Smeriglio speaks at an anti-illegal immigration rally in Shenandoah, Pa.

Pennsylvania state police had to stand between anti-illegal immigration activists and a group of pro-immigration protesters carrying a Mexican flag at a rally in Shenandoah, Pa. on Saturday. Shenandoah, a town of about 5,000 in Pennsylvania’s anthracite region, became a hot spot in the immigration debate after Luis Ramirez, an illegal Mexican immigrant, was brutally murdered by a group of white teenagers in July.

The rally was organized by Voice of the People USA, an organization co-founded by Hazleton, Pa., resident Daniel Smeriglio in 2007 after Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta signed a city ordinance designed to keep illegal immigrants out. News 21 interviewed Smeriglio in June, when he defended his organization, which to his chagrin has attracted the support of the Ku Klux Klan, against charges of racism. After Saturday’s rally, he told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “We are in no way applauding what happened in Shenandoah. We condemn racism in every way.”

But tension continues to surround race and immigration in this economically depressed part of the country, and regional eyes are on Shenandoah as the school year begins. Two of the alleged murderers, who were all football players, are not being allowed to attend school. The school hosted a diversity training program for students last Monday night.