"Joining the Minutemen because you have an issue with illegal immigration is like joining a White supremacist group because you have an issue with affirmative action," said Janet Murguía, NCLR's president, as the group announced it will boycott Kansas City by moving its 2009 annual conference out of the city.

NCLR's board reached the decision in a vote this weekend as retaliation against Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser, a Democrat who took office in May and a month later appointed Frances Semler to the city's parks and recreation board.

Semler's offense was she has been a member of the local chapter of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps -- the group that calls for enforcement of immigration laws and has organized citizen patrols of the U.S.-Mexico border.

"An active member of the Minutemen should not be an official representative for a city that purports to believe in diversity," said Monica Lozano, chairwoman of the NCLR board.

Since Semler's appointment, the city council passed a resolution called on her to step down or be removed but the mayor has stuck by her.

-- Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times