Andy Ramirez of the group Friends of the Border Patrol was invited by the Simi Valley/Moorpark Republican Assembly to speak on Saturday, August 20. The meeting was to be held at Moorpark's City Hall.

Now, that city has demanded a deposit of $5000:

Their President, Mr. Darin Henry contacted me earlier today with the following problem. He was informed by the City of Moorpark that they required an unreasonable amount for a security deposit, that being in the amount of $5,000. He asked me to contact "Mary" to discuss this further. I did so and informed her that we have not had any incidents at any of my speaking engagements anywhere in SD County and I was not personally requesting additional security. I had contacted Captain Richard Diaz of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department's Moorpark Station as a courtesy call to alert him to my speaking engagement. He indicated that they would have a couple of deputies keep an eye on the event, but that was it. We'd not have any additional security inside the building. If there was a problem, he gave me a telephone number and of course suggested 911. Again, I did not request any additional security for the event.

However, Mary at Moorpark City Hall stated to both Mr. Henry and myself that they needed a $5k deposit for security for additional manpower. She further stated that they only had three deputies on duty and that if any were detailed to keep watch on the SVMRA event, she'd have to request additional deputies and that would increase city costs for their security. I informed her as I had Captain Diaz that I'd not requested any additional security. However, she was rather adament and informed me that we'd be on our own as a result...

You can call the city of Moorpark at 805.517.6200, or use this form. Emails of various officials are here.

Note that this situation is similar in some ways to recent events in Carlsbad, which were resolved. See "Carlsbad Unified School District to allow immigration meeting".

UPDATE: Coverage also in "Group balks at Moorpark's deposit request".