http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_4006492

Article Launched: 7/02/2006 10:28 PM


Border debate by mail
Congress: Activists send bricks, gloves to influence views on immigration.
By Lisa Friedman, from out Washington bureau
Long Beach Press Telegram

WASHINGTON - First the bricks came pouring in. Now the gloves are coming off.

In the wake of a popular campaign that has had advocates of building a border wall between the United States and Mexico sending thousands of bricks to members of Congress, immigration activists think they have found a symbolic message of their own: work gloves.

Yet as more and more items course through the U.S. Postal Service to Capitol Hill, lawmakers - nearly all entrenched in their positions on illegal immigration - say they are amused but not budging.

"We're building a patio," joked Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar, of the several dozen bricks his office has received.

Already a supporter of a border fence, Miller said he appreciates the time people took to send the bricks, but it won't influence his position.

Nor, he said, will work gloves if he receives them.

"I could use a new pair," he said.

Rep. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys, an opponent of the fence and co-author of legislation folded into the Senate immigration bill to legalize millions of undocumented farm workers, said his office has received about 15 bricks, but so far no gloves.

"I enjoyed the stunts, but I can't say they affect my decision-making process," he said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose office has received a whopping 900 bricks, said she hasn't even actually seen them herself.

Regardless, she said, "The products I receive make no difference in my decisions."

All of that may be bad news for activists on both sides of the debate banking on the idea that sending a physical message to Congress gives them a stronger voice in the debate than if they send more easily-discarded letters or e-mails.

Kate Shaughnessy, deputy campaign manager for the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, which represents pro-immigrant groups in D.C., is promoting the work glove campaign.

She said she believes the campaign is an effective communications tool.

"It sends a message of the hard work of immigrants in this country, from manual labor to farm labor to household labor. It's a symbol of the contribution that immigrants make to our communities."

Creators of both the work glove and brick campaigns (www.send-a-workglove.com and www.send-a-brick.com) are willing to do the mailings themselves, for a fee.

Adam Rothwell, a Baltimore immigration attorney who created the glove movement last month, said the first few weeks his Web site saw scant traffic.

Now, however, he is sending out between 12 and 15 pairs each day. He buys them in bulk at his local Home Depot.

"Yesterday I went to buy some more and they looked at me like I was kind of crazy," he said. "I hope it's something that will spread out.

"People can definitely equate wearing the work glove with the work that immigrants perform for us."

Meanwhile, other pro-immigrant activists said they are planning other symbolic mailings as well, including sending lawmakers water bottles with the biographies of people who have died while crossing the desert in their bid to illegally enter the country.

"E-mail has never been amazingly effective. I think this is a bigger symbolic gesture," Shaughnessy said.

Mike Scott of Glendora, a longtime activist for tougher enforcement who favors the border fence, said he hasn't sent a brick yet but thinks the movement is great.

"Sending work gloves, to me, is just a sham because Americans will do these jobs, but they've got to be paid for it. It's a myth that Americans won't do hard labor or unpleasant jobs," he said.

An avid letter-writer to members of Congress for the past 15 years, Scott said he thinks lawmakers don't like to admit that mass correspondence has an impact.

But, he said, "It does when the future of a politician is at stake."

Lisa Friedman can be reached at lisa.friedman@langnews.com or (202) 662-8731.