Thread: MSM on the attack: Immigration issue fades as key issue

The Miami Herald fishwrap is on the attack trying to convince readers that immigration has faded and voters no longer consider it important in choosing a candidate. Don't let the MSM sweep illegal immigration under the rug, ALIPAC'ers! Let them know...It's the economy stupid and illegal immigration has a negative effect on the economy, on job security, on job wages, on job availability and on the taxpayer burden imposed on American citizens.

FLORIDA PRIMARY
Immigration issue fades as key issue
Posted on Sun, Jan. 20, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND HELENA POLEO
achardy@MiamiHerald.com

Guillermo Vega, a Nicaragua native, cast his ballot at a Hialeah voting site Friday for the first time in a primary since becoming a U.S. citizen, but immigration wasn't a factor in his choice of Hillary Clinton.

Bill Steward wants a solution to illegal immigration, but the issue was not on his mind when he voted in Fort Lauderdale for Barack Obama. Nor did it stand out for Broward resident Irene Pharmer, who voted for Rudy Giuliani.

In downtown Miami, retired chef Everett Hill voted for Clinton but not because of the New York senator's immigration stance -- at odds with his wish to deport as many illegal workers as possible.

Illegal immigration -- which consumed recent GOP debates with charges of hypocrisy and policy flip-flops and put Democratic presidential candidates on the defensive -- has faded as a key issue for Florida voters.

As the Sunshine State heads into the Jan. 29 primary election, polls show the slowing economy is voters' top concern.

''People are very focused on the economy, and they're focused on local issues like home insurance and real estate taxes,'' said political consultant Ric Katz. ``In their minds, everything is connected.''

Cuban-born Fidel Muñoz, 74, who voted early in Hialeah last week, conceded immigration wasn't on his political radar in picking Sen. John McCain.

''What I want is for him to improve the economic situation and for my real estate taxes to go down,'' he said.

Hispanics make up almost 33 percent of the nearly two million registered voters in Miami-Dade and Broward. Immigration doesn't resonate with South Florida voters the way it did in Iowa, where Hispanics are less than 2 percent of the almost two million voters.

''Florida is different from a lot of other states that have large numbers of Hispanics because the two largest Hispanic groups in Florida, Puerto Ricans and Cubans, do not have the illegal alien problem,'' said DarÃ*o Moreno, political science professor and director of Florida International University's Metropolitan Center.

Unlike other immigrants who arrive without papers, Cubans can stay and apply for green cards after a year. Puerto Ricans, many of whom live in the Orlando area, are U.S. citizens by birth.

PRIMARY ISSUE

''The No. 1 issue on people's mind is the economy, and immigration is far from everyone's mind,'' said José Cancela, a former Spanish-language TV executive active in Cuban-American politics.

Nevertheless, Florida faces a growing undocumented population: an estimated one million, mostly from Haiti, Venezuela, Jamaica, Mexico and Central America. Anti-legalization groups like the Minutemen, who made national news for the group's patrols along the Mexican border, have mobilized in the state.

Cheryl Little, executive director of Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, said Democratic candidates need to be more vocal in their support for legalization.

''While the Democratic candidates have said they favor comprehensive immigration reform, they have tended to whisper this message,'' Little said. ``Republican candidates . . . have responded to a growing call to deport all undocumented immigrants.''

The exception had been McCain.

The Arizona senator dropped in the polls after his unsuccessful push in Congress to legalize undocumented immigrants.

Opponents of the plan, which required paying penalties and returning to one's home country temporarily, called it amnesty.

McCain, who won New Hampshire's GOP primary, lost in Iowa to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. After speaking up at one debate in defense of the children of undocumented immigrants, Huckabee produced a tough immigration platform and accepted the endorsement of Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman project.

Bill Landes, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps' Florida state director, said he's keeping his ``fingers crossed that someone like [CNN host and closed-border proponent] Lou Dobbs will jump in there on an independent ticket.''

Mark Krikorian, executive director at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, said U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo's short-lived presidential candidacy -- he dropped out last month -- kept pressure on Republicans to toughen their immigration position.

McCain, for instance, now says any legalization plans must come after the U.S. border is secured.

The Democratic presidential hopefuls, though embracing legalization, also have hardened their positions as national polls show voters worry about an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants posing a drain on taxpayer-financed services.

Even those immigrants who have played by U.S. rules are finding obstacles leading to the election. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizenship applicants, most of them Hispanic, have had their hopes dashed of voting this year because of agency backlogs.

CITIZENSHIP SURGE

About 1.4 million applied for citizenship in 2007, almost twice as many as the previous fiscal year. A voter-registration campaign by key Hispanic groups and the Spanish-language network, Univisión, coupled with a sharp hike in fees, prompted a rush to naturalize.

After learning Clinton's pro-legalization posture on immigration, retired chef Hill worried it would affect her ability to get the black vote, particularly in the South. Polls show most black voters oppose legalization.

''She'll have a hard time getting it past the South . . . and she can't pass that without us,'' Hill, 56, said of the black community's concerns.

For Steward, 60, a retired Xerox repairman in Fort Lauderdale, Obama earned his support because he believes the Democrat would ''get us out'' of Iraq.

Pharmer, who works for the city of Fort Lauderdale, voted for Giuliani because he seems ``the most liberal, reasonable Republican.''

As for immigration, she says, she has yet to identify a candidate with a ``workable solution.''

http://www.miamiherald.com:80/campaign0 ... 86935.html

Illegal immigration and the economy go hand-in-hand and cannot be decoupled. The same can be said between immigration and national security concerns. Many people who site the economy as the number 1 issue also see that cheap illegal labor in the U.S. has driven down wages, increased the cost of public education, burdened our hospitals, and taxed our public benefit systems...this is all linked to the economy. A country simply cannot be strong economically if it must subsidize 12-20 million illegal foreign nationals-it's just not possible.

The economy is linked directly with illegal immigration and national security, and those who contend these three issues aren't related are trying to mislead the citizens and legal residents of this country.

Illegal Immigration has not faded as a top issue to the millions of voting Americans. As our cities and neighborhoods are being invaded by these illegal aliens the issue only grows in importance and the government's lack of will to enforce our laws has only made the anger of the American people grow.

When illegal aliens move next door, you want to move out. Many cannot and they are trapped in areas where they once knew the American Dream and they now know the Third World Nightmare.

The media, the special interests, big business can lie and try to hide behind compassion, necessity for uneducated, low skilled workers, and all of the other excuses, and yet the balance of those who are sick and tired of this third world invasion just grows and grows.

Get smart America, illegal immigration will destroy us. All of the Democratic Candidates will allow the invasion to continue and bring more to America. McCain, Huckabee, Guilliani on the Republican side will for sure continue the invasion based on past and present actions and statements.

Ephesians 4:32

here was my response:

And the rock you have been living under Mr. Chardy and Ms. Poleo is located where? You may be hoping and dreaming that immigration has faded as an issue, but the truth is, to the average American, the issue is bigger than ever. Those of you in the media think you are omnipotent and can change public view simply because you said so. You are wrong. The American public is not nearly as dim-witted as you believe. The economy is important, but most people see that the number one cause of deflated incomes and inflation is illegal immigration. We live in a supply/demand economical system, when you have upward of 10% of our population here illegally, you can expect everything to be at least 10% more expensive. When you have over 10% of our population working in an underground economy where they are willing to work for far below minimum wage, you can expect wages in general to fall.
Illegal immigration has not fallen in importance, it is increasing on a daily basis.

Originally Posted by cayla99

here was my response:

And the rock you have been living under Mr. Chardy and Ms. Poleo is located where? You may be hoping and dreaming that immigration has faded as an issue, but the truth is, to the average American, the issue is bigger than ever. Those of you in the media think you are omnipotent and can change public view simply because you said so. You are wrong. The American public is not nearly as dim-witted as you believe. The economy is important, but most people see that the number one cause of deflated incomes and inflation is illegal immigration. We live in a supply/demand economical system, when you have upward of 10% of our population here illegally, you can expect everything to be at least 10% more expensive. When you have over 10% of our population working in an underground economy where they are willing to work for far below minimum wage, you can expect wages in general to fall.
Illegal immigration has not fallen in importance, it is increasing on a daily basis.

GREAT WORK, Cayla!

Thanks PhredE

IMSHO If they think the issue is faded, I say the best way to challenge that is to get as many contrary responses listed on that site as we can.

Originally Posted by cayla99

IMSHO If they think the issue is faded, I say the best way to challenge that is to get as many contrary responses listed on that site as we can.

^ comments so far...all against the article. I'll put one together and post, as well.

Ditto you two, am doing the same....great job "Cayla"

Here's what I posted!


OK folks the primaries are coming to Florida, are we going to let this kind of propaganda lead people to believe the illegal alien problem is not important to Floridians or the rest of the country. We need to spread the word that one of the reasons our economy is in this conditions is because of illegal aliens in our states. Does any one truely believe their taxes will be reduced if the illegal alien problem is not solved. We are forced to pay for their schools, welfare, food stamps, health care, crime etc, all the while they are driving our wages down...Wake up Americans now is the time to let the politicans know we are "Mad as hell and not going to take it anymore". And the Demacrates are hiding behind ethinc groups to keep from discussing the issue, Mc Cain and Huckabee are lieing, they will sell you out in a heart beat.
Get involved with stopping illegal immigration at, Americans for Legal Immigration PAC ( alipac dot us)
http://www.alipac.us/index.html