When faced with facts, open border advocates stoop to combining legal immigration with illegal aliens ... and playing the racism card.

Activist: Invasion PA demonizes Latinos

By RICHARD FELLINGER
Evening Sun Harrisburg Bureau
Article Launched: 09/27/2007 09:55:19 AM EDT

Debate intensified Wednesday over a recent report released by some Republican lawmakers on illegal immigrants and crime in Pennsylvania.

Two days after the report came out, Latino activists and some Democratic lawmakers denounced it at a Capitol rally, saying it is racially insensitive and suggests that all Latinos are criminals. The critics also said the report is flawed because it includes only a fraction of all crimes committed statewide and lists some criminal charges for which there has been no conviction.

The report dubbed "Invasion PA" was released by lawmakers seeking to create momentum for a package of immigration-reform bills that has been stuck in the House. The report lists 120 cases of crime, from welfare fraud to murder, that were allegedly committed by illegal immigrants in Pennsylvania.

Abe Amoros, a Latino resident of York and spokesman for the state Democratic Party, led Wednesday's rally and said illegal immigration is wrong but supporters of the report are "using fear as a political tool."

"Latinos are here to stay, and we should not be demonized in any way. We should not be called criminals," Amoros said.

Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-West Manchester Township, also spoke at the rally and urged people to resist all forms of discrimination.

"Let us not make the same mistakes we made in so many other generations in this country by trying to divide Americans simply to score political points," DePasquale said.

(another pandering Democrat who will say anything for votes)

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, the leading advocate of the report, defended it and said its critics are ignoring the facts about how illegal immigration affects Pennsylvanians.

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Dillsburg, one of the lawmakers who backs the report, said it has nothing to do with race.

"The report was about crime and illegal immigration," Perry said.

Perry also said critics of the report are out of step with a majority of Pennsylvanians who favor immigration reforms.

Supporters of the report said they want to draw more attention to illegal immigration because the federal government has failed to act and bills in the state Legislature are languishing.

They are pushing a five-bill package in the state House that includes proposals to require employers to verify the Social Security numbers of prospective employees and revoke the licenses of businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants. Other bills would limit public benefits for illegals only to medical emergencies, require police to report the citizenship status of criminal suspects, and call on state police to seek an agreement with federal authorities to enforce federal immigration and customs laws.

On Wednesday, Rep. Angel Cruz, D-Philadelphia, the state's only Latino lawmaker, suggested another approach - a task force consisting of five Republicans and five Democrats to study the life of Pennsylvania immigrants.

During the rally, Cruz asked Metcalfe, who looked on from the rotunda's south side, to join him and support formation of the task force, but Metcalfe declined.

ON THE WEB:

The "Invasion PA" report can be viewed at Rep. Daryl Metcalfe's Web site at:

http://www.repmetcalfe.com

http://www.eveningsun.com/localnews/ci_7014884

Open border advocates are very OK with Americans dying. It's pointing out the crimes they object to.