Thread: Hispanics help pass laws against illegals

Hispanics help pass laws against illegals

By Sarah N. Lynch
The East Valley Tribune (Mesa, AZ), November 30, 2006

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=79818

More than 100,000 people swelled the streets of downtown Phoenix on the morning of April 10 to demonstrate for fair immigration reform.

Until that day, Arizona had never seen a movement powerful enough to draw so many Hispanic immigrants into the political arena. They marched in droves to a rally at the state Capitol where they vowed to be a force in the upcoming election.

But while the march’s organizers were able to rally people into the streets, they failed to rally voters to the polls.

All four of Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration propositions passed by wide margins — and, perhaps surprisingly, several surveys showed that between 40 percent and 50 percent of Hispanics voted for them.

“I call it a disappointment myself, but it’s hard to turn a whole community’s attitude around and I think that is what we are facing,” said Roberto Reveles, president of Somos America. “It’s going to take a lot more time to get people past the ... negative imagery that has been created.”

In several different surveys, pollsters found that many Hispanics in Arizona continued a trend of voting in favor of antiillegal immigration measures.

Rod Fernandez, 44, said he voted for all four of the anti-illegal immigration propositions partly because he deals every day with the headaches of illegal immigration.

He said his livelihood has been hurt by day laborers across the street from his job at Karl’s Custom in Mesa.

“They’ll all pile into the truck looking for work,” he said. “Recently, a couple of customers said they were afraid to come here, or they won’t leave their car overnight.”

Fernandez said the issue is not about race, but about playing by the rules.

“I’m not against Hispanics from Mexico,” he said. “I’m against them coming out here and getting all the benefits I have that I’m entitled to because I’m a taxpayer.”

Bruce Merrill, a pollster at Arizona State University, said roughly 40 percent of Hispanics statewide voted for Proposition 300, which prevents illegal immigrants from receiving some public benefits. Merrill said the breakdown of Hispanic votes was nearly identical two years ago when roughly 40 percent of Hispanic voters also helped pass Proposition 200, which required voters to show proper ID at the polls.

In another study, the Pew Hispanic Center found that about 48 percent of Hispanic voters backed a measure that designated English as Arizona’s official language, while 41 percent voted to re-elect Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who made illegal immigration a central campaign issue.

“The misconception with Hispanics is that they are a homogenous political group like African Americans. They are not,” Merrill said. “There are as many VFW, flag-waving Hispanics with pickups with guns in their racks as there are César Chávez Chicanos.”

The success of the four immigration measures hinged on the lack of unified opposition, said Rodolfo Espino, an assistant professor of political science at Arizona State University.

The only one that seemed to generate widespread protest was Prop. 300, which prevents illegal immigrants from receiving in-state tuition, financial aid, access to state child care programs and adult-literacy classes.

“You had nothing going against the immigration propositions,” he said. “Nothing that was well-financed, but more importantly, (there was no) well-articulated position.”

“If they wanted to defeat these propositions, the pro-immigration crowd should have framed this as an equality and civil rights issue,” he said.

Espino said it will probably take between 10 and 15 years to see a momentous shift.

“We can’t expect that all of a sudden, the masses will turn out the vote,” he said. “What we are seeing is a birth. It takes a while for this child to be born, to learn the political ropes, to learn how American politics works and how to get your way.”

Part of the reason for the movement’s lack of impact on Nov. 7 can be attributed to low voter registration numbers and turnout rates among Hispanics.

While there is no way to determine actual Hispanic voter turnout rates, the pro-immigration movement on a national front failed to meet its goal of signing up 1 million new foreign-born voters. National estimates suggest that immigration activists may have signed up fewer than 150,000 new voters.

Local groups admit they did not meet all their goals.

The statewide group Inmigrantes Sin Fronteras, for instance, signed up only 1,300 new voters instead of the 6,000 they’d hoped for, said the group’s founder and general director Elías Bermúdez. And one study showed 8,800 new Hispanic voters had signed up in Arizona.

According to The Pew Hispanic Center’s recent study, Arizona’s Hispanics account for about 17 percent of eligible voters.

Bermúdez said voter registration is difficult because many of the immigrant Hispanics are not eligible to vote. But one of the challenges, he said, will be to convince people that immigrants have a positive impact on the economy.

“That was a beginning step,” he said of the marches. “(But) how do we do something to make the rest of the population, especially the Anglo population, come to accept us not as invaders, but as a group of people ... that actually sustain the economic growth of Arizona?”

Some immigration activists thought their movement has contributed to some gains in the election, they said.

Santos Ortiz, the president of Inmigrantes Sin Fronteras, pointed to the defeat of Arizona Rep. J.D. Hayworth, a veteran Republican lawmaker who supported building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to halt illegal immigration.

“J.D. Hayworth is 100 percent anti-immigrant,” Ortiz said in Spanish. “We wanted the Democratic Party in power because the Republicans are anti-immigrant.”

Nationwide, two-thirds of Hispanic voters supported Democrats, according to research conducted by the William C. Velasquez Institute. But pollsters and political scientists do not believe the immigration movement had anything to do with Democrat Harry Mitchell’s victory over Hayworth for Arizona’s 5th Congressional District seat.

Instead, Merrill said it was negative publicity during the election that sunk Hayworth. Still, many leaders of the pro-immigration movement said they see a logical next step for the movement: convince both whites and conservative Hispanic voters that immigrants are important to the country’s economic engine. Bermúdez plans to organize a boycott of American goods next month.

Others hope to find new ways to send the same message. “I, for one, happen to feel that every movement in contemporary times — the civil rights movement, the farm workers’ movement, the gay movement — have all had one common thread,” Reveles said. “They have identified an economic wedge, and they have worked it.”

By the numbers

1,000,000: The number of new foreign-born voters activists across the nation had hoped to sign up prior to the Nov. 7 election. Fewer than 150,000: The estimated number of new foreign-born voters who registered nationwide.

40-48: The estimated percentage of Hispanic voters who cast ballots in support of Arizona’s English-only measure.

17: The percentage of eligible voters in Arizona who are Hispanic.

10-15: The estimated number of years it will take before Hispanic voters become a political force.

Fernandez said the issue is not about race, but about playing by the rules.

Exactly!

You know, I think many people want to make this a race issue. What would some of these groups do if race were not an issue? Their groups would fall apart. And do they want that? I don't think so. Once people get a little power it's hard to give it up.
Anyway, I like that statement above and wanted to highlight it.

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Originally Posted by Kate

All four of Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration propositions passed by wide margins — and, perhaps surprisingly, several surveys showed that between 40 percent and 50 percent of Hispanics voted for them.

Despite a mainstream media blackout re the harmful effects of illegal aliens undercutting Americans for jobs, Hispanic Americans - underline Americans - have figured out that their children and their grandchildren will be harmed by illegals.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

Nice refresh of an old but important article, vistalad! I'm sure the % of Americans of Hispanic descent can see the line in the sand even more clearly today since this problem has escalated far beyond any of our imaginations and they like all Americans can not only see but feel the pain in their lives and wallets.

STOP THIS TRAVESTY NOW!