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Posted on Fri, Feb. 09, 2007

Immigration remarks by governor draw outcry

Comments about Latina lawmaker released last fall only tip of 3 hours of tape

By Anna Gorman
LOS ANGELES TIMES

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's off-the-cuff comments in recently released audio recordings about illegal immigration and the inability of Mexicans to assimilate into American society have drawn angry responses this week from the Latino community and political leaders.

"I made an effort," the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger told aides in conversations last April that touched on assimilation. "But the Mexicans don't make that effort."

The governor also used an expletive to disparage the 1986 law that granted asylum to more than 2 million illegal immigrants.

"His comments were highly offensive and outrageous," said California Assembly Assistant Majority Leader Kevin de Leon, a Democrat. "It's just mind-blowing that he continues to put his foot in his mouth."

If Spanish-language newspapers and radio are any guide, others were angered as well. The headline in of one La Opinion piece this week: "Governor attacks Mexicans."

Even a former campaign aide weighed in. "Those comments are disturbing to many of us," said Arnoldo Torres, who worked for the governor during the campaign and was a former political adviser to the League of United Latin American Citizens.

The controversy is the latest flap for the governor arising from casual conversations that were not intended to become public.

The recordings were made by a speechwriter and temporarily stored on the governor's Web site. A six-minute excerpt was first made public by the Los Angeles Times in September. The remaining 31/2 hours of recordings were recently obtained by the Times.

In the recordings released last fall, Schwarzenegger referred to a Latina lawmaker as "hot," casually saying that her fiery personality was the result of mixing "black blood" and "Latino blood."

The more recently released recordings provide the governor's most candid statements yet on illegal immigration.

The conversations were brainstorming sessions designed to help the governor talk out ideas, his communications director Adam Mendelsohn said Thursday.

"I think everyone in this state struggles with how to manage an issue as large as the immigration issue," Mendelsohn said. "The governor is working through that issue as anyone else, and he is trying to come up with a responsible position."

Mendelsohn said the recordings, however, fail "to reflect his deep respect for the Mexican culture. ... He has a strong belief and understanding of what immigrants have contributed to this state in terms of economic growth."

The governor's frankness is what worries immigrant rights groups, who say they now have a much clearer view of his true beliefs.

At one point, to illustrate immigrants' lack of assimilation he described a shopping mall in the City of Lynwood called Plaza Mexico.

"Literally I felt I was in Mexico City," he said. "Everyone only spoke Spanish, every shop was in Spanish, every sign was in Spanish. They create a Mexico within California."

And he compared the United States to a home where some guests help out and others don't.

"Look, you want to come in here as a guest, but then behave as if you are a guest," he said. "But what do we see in return? We see protesters carrying the Mexican flag. ... And stepping on the American flag, and speaking in Spanish and talking about, 'We are here and we're going to stay.'"

Immigrant rights groups said the governor is simply wrong about the lack of integration.

"Integration is in the eye of the beholder," said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. "Somebody might say that because of his accent, the governor hasn't integrated fully."

Salas added that the governor should be "more careful about what he says about the very people who are sustaining the economy."

"He needs to be much more appreciative of all the opportunities he himself has had as an immigrant," Salas said, adding that not everyone becomes a movie star or marries a Kennedy.
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