California's troubled quarrel over immigration has sprouted into a very large format indeed. Billboards near the Arizona-California border, and close to Los Angeles have sparked controversies that reveal emotions too strong to be concealed for long. PNS commentator Julie Reynolds is an editor for El Andar Publications and the Electric Mercado web site in Santa Cruz, California.

Call it a billboard war -- outdoor advertising has become the new arena for California's troubled debate over immigration.

The opening shot came May 7 on Interstate 10 near the desert town of Blythe, at the California-Arizona border. The Orange County-based California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR) paid for an ad that looked like a huge green sign of the sort used on state highways. It read "Welcome to California, the Illegal Immigration State," and warned visitors, "Don't let this happen to your state." It included a toll-free number: 877 NO ILLEGALS.

The sign was the brainstorm of CCIR chair Barbara Coe and her colleague Les Blankhorn. Coe, a vocal crusader against illegal immigration and a sponsor of Proposition 187, said, "We thought what the heck, let's give it a shot. I'm thrilled with the results."

Indeed, CCIR was pleased as punch that the billboard sparked "Hispanic pro-alien race activist" furor.

Coe denies charges the billboard was racist, saying "I don't care what ethnicity they are, if they're here illegally, the law says they should be deported." She added, "a lot of law-abiding Hispanics suffer from what their fellow people from Mexico are doing. It's unfair, they get treated badly all because of what one woman calls 'my indelible tan'," Coe laughs.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) ordered the group to remove the sign, claiming the white letters and green background too closely resembled official Caltrans highway signs. Coe instead paid $375 to have it painted over with a black background.

At the same time, Spanish-language radio station KTNQ launched a series of controversial billboards in the Los Angeles area. One featured three hip-looking brown-skinned men scrambling over a wall marked "Welcome to the United States." Another showed a young Latino with a gun held to his head. All signs carried the phrase "?Que paso?"(What's happening?). The idea, according to station promotions director Bill Beadles, was to stimulate interest in KTNQ's call-in discussions about crime and violence. The campaign backfired.

Many residents only saw larger-than-life images of Latino criminals. Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina was furious and reported that 85 percent of the constituents who called her office were upset about the "negative, stereotypical images of Latinos," according to her aide Miguel Santana.

Anti-immigrant crusaders were also upset with the ads -- though for different reasons. They viewed them as promoting Latino gangs and illegal immigration. "We did get a lot of hate calls," Beadles said. "People on the outside don't see we're legitimately trying to solve the same problems they're concerned with."

Eventually, KTNQ issued an apologetic "response to the community" along with a promise to remove the series immediately. Most of the billboards have now been replaced with newer, text-only versions.

That uproar more or less settled, the CCIR billboard in Blythe suddenly faced new opposition. Longtime civil rights activist Mario Obledo, who in January received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Clinton, took issue with Coe's claim that the sign was not racist. "In California, when you speak about illegal immigrants, you're not talking about Canadians or Europeans," he said. "You're talking about Mexicans."

Obledo publicly vowed to "burn or deface" the CCIR sign at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 27 as an act of "joy and celebration."

Gil Flores, state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), promised that his organization would follow Obledo to Blythe, and invited others to join.

Then CCIR urged "loyal Americans" to join them in Blythe to defend the billboard.

That Saturday morning, close to 80 law enforcement officials were in Blythe. So were a hundred or so CCIR supporters. Obledo was not present, however. A few days earlier, Martin Media, owner of the billboard, simply removed the sign and gave Coe her money back, saying they preferred to protect their property. Obledo rejoiced and Coe quickly vowed, "This puppy is going back up, as well as more."

Obledo is now considering sponsoring a series of billboards pointing out immigrants' contributions to California's prosperity -- and vows that if CCIR puts up any more signs, he will deface every one.

Jorge Chino, publisher of a California bilingual magazine, thinks the situation is broader than a billboard. "Under free speech, they have the right to have a sign. That's not the issue," he says. "The issue is that they want us out of here. How do we deal with that?"

If the harsh fears and desires behind the billboards are part of California's new mind-scape, the signs may force Californians to face them in all their vulgarity.