Today’s immigration rally in downtown Denver didn’t draw nearly as many participants as it did last year. According to the Rocky Mountain News, the crowd of “several hundred” was a far cry from the estimated 75,000 who turned out last year:

Several hundred people gathered near the state Capitol this morning, embarking on a march to support immigration reforms that promote a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

The march, starting about 10:30 a.m., stretched four to five blocks. Participants carried giant American and Mexican flags and banners, and chanted slogans in support of immigrants.

The illegal immigration debate has taken on several causes and solutions, but one Utah Republican has come up with his own explanation: blame Satan.

As The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

Utah County GOP Chairwoman Marian Monnahan says District 65 Chairman Don Larsen’s resolution – asserting that illegal immigration is the devil’s plan to destroy the nation by “stealth invasion” – “in no way” is endorsed by the Republican Party…

…Party faithful will get the chance to discuss Larsen’s resolution Saturday at the county’s GOP convention. Monnahan notes Larsen, not the party, paid to print and distribute 1,300 copies of it for the gathering.

Larsen, who did not return a phone call or an e-mail seeking comment Thursday, is urging the closing of national borders to illegal immigrants to “prevent the destruction of the U.S. by stealth invasion.”

“In order for Satan to establish his ‘New World Order’ and destroy the freedom of all people as predicted in the Scriptures, he must first destroy the U.S.,” his resolution states. “The mostly quiet and unspectacular invasion of illegal immigrants does not focus the attention of the nations the way open warfare does, but is all the more insidious for its stealth and innocuousness.”…

…Satan has popped up in Utah County politics before. Last year, failed congressional candidate John Jacob of Eagle Mountain blamed the devil for his flagging campaign.

Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo, says he hasn’t yet read Larsen’s resolution, but he, too, expects it to fizzle. “The majority of Republicans believe that illegal immigration is probably the most critical issue facing Utah today,” said Bramble, who will chair Saturday’s convention. “I don’t think there is going to be a great deal of people attributing the problem to Satan.”

Satan sure has been busy in Utah, and he’s normally pretty active in Colorado as well (it was Satan, after all, who was responsible for gay sex accusations against Colorado Springs pastor Ted Haggard). But Satan must have been busy with a different issue today, seeing as how Colorado’s immigration rally only attracted a small number of participants compared to last year.