Thread: Immigration a hot issue in mostly white New Hampshire

Immigration a hot issue in mostly white New Hampshire


12:10 AM CDT on Monday, October 22, 2007
By TODD J. GILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News
tgillman@dallasnews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com
DERRY, N.H. – The bright green "Secure Our Future" T-shirt marked Roy Feinauer's membership in a group formed to pressure candidates on Social Security. So Sen. John McCain was pretty sure what to expect when the retired accountant raised his hand at a recent town hall meeting.


New Hampshire merchant Maria Amaya has slowly seen her Hispanic clientele increase over 22 years
He got a curveball, instead – a pointed question about his views on illegal immigrants.

"I don't know how we're going to export 11 million people, but maybe if we made them all talk English, we might get somewhere," Mr. Feinauer said.

New Hampshire is nearly all white, but there have been some flare-ups over immigration – attempts by police to drive out illegal immigrant workers, and allegations of racial profiling and growing antagonism among whites. In any other small state, such friction might be shrugged off as growing pains and local concerns.

But this is New Hampshire, host of the nation's first presidential primary. Here, all politics is national, and that goes for the immigration debate.

"It's one of those issues that's just bubbling below the surface," said the state's top pollster, Andy Smith, director of the Granite State Poll.

Republican voters seem far more exercised about the issue than Democrats. Mr. McCain gets questions about immigration policy every time he shows up, as do his rivals.

And he's learned to offer contrition for his failed push for a guest-worker program and path to citizenship for illegal immigrant workers.

"Americans want the border secure, and they want that first," he told Mr. Feinauer, who seemed mollified.

The 90-year-old Mr. Feinauer, a lifelong Derry resident, conceded that his town may not have any immigrants, legal or illegal, but said that's no reason for apathy.

"I, and I think New Hampshire as well, we are interested because it affects our country," he said as the town hall broke up. "And I think: America first."


Trespass charges

New Hampshire isn't the most homogeneous state in the union. West Virginia holds that distinction. But it ranks right up there.

About 94 percent of residents are white and non-Hispanic. Since the 2000 census, the number of Hispanics has risen 45 percent – a whopping percentage, but representing just 9,000 extra people, a blip in a state of 1.3 million.

"It is a very white state," said Kenneth Johnson, senior demographer at the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire. "It isn't a microcosm of America."

Still, the state has had dust-ups.

In mid-2005, police in two towns got fed up with lax federal border enforcement and decided to try a new tack.

One day after work, Jorge Mora Ramirez, a roofer from Waltham, Mass., was passing through New Ipswich, population 5,000 or so. An officer noticed a broken taillight. It turned out that Mr. Ramirez had overstayed his visa. Police Chief Garrett Chamberlain charged him with criminal trespass, reasoning that if a person lacks permission to be in the country, he can't be in town legally, either.

Police in Hudson, N.H., soon tried the same approach, arresting eight immigrants from Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.

A state judge threw out the charges and chastised the police, telling them to leave immigration enforcement to federal authorities.

The victory for immigrants unleashed latent frustrations among other New Hampshire residents, by many accounts.

"Now they feel entitled to say, 'The stupid Mexicans come here and they don't even bother to learn the language,' " said Eva Castillo, a longtime Hispanic activist in Manchester, who alleges that police in several cities routinely harass immigrants and people who look like they might be. "It's getting out of hand."

One longtime Hudson resident said he finds the growing hostility disconcerting. Alejandro Urrutia arrived from Mexico 21 years ago. He recently left his job in Boston as outreach director for the American Red Cross to run his own health and safety consulting company. "The law enforcers are hunting illegal immigrants," he said.

There is foment on both sides.

In Concord, state lawmakers voted this year to defy the congressional Real ID Act mandate, requiring states to verify identities when renewing drivers' licenses. In January, two Democratic lawmakers proposed to explicitly bar police from enforcing immigration laws. The so-called "sanctuary state" bill died in committee, but it became a rallying cry for anti-illegal-immigrant forces.

Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, the long-shot GOP presidential contender, went to the capital last month and declared that the bill's authors should be thrown from office and prosecuted for "aiding and abetting" unlawful immigrants.

Illegal-immigration foes huddled a few weeks ago at a Nashua hotel.

Five state representatives showed up, along with the New Ipswich police chief and others. They're planning an even bigger gathering in Manchester, and it wouldn't bother them if the organizing alone deters some immigration.

"Let's face it," said Susan Tully, national field director at FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, who led the meeting. "Illegal aliens go the path of least resistance. ... The feeling is, yes it's not as bad as other places but we've got to do something before it gets that way."

Immigrant advocates grumble that outsiders are stirring up discontent or at least capitalizing on it to further their own agendas.

"New Hampshire attracts outside people," said Nabil Migalli, a Manchester social worker who leads an Arab-American group. "Most of these politics are not local politics."

Manchester's Elm Street is ground zero for presidential campaigns, and it's just west of a heavily Hispanic neighborhood. Tucked amid the campaign offices and restaurants, Star Fashion is a window into that subculture. There's a Bill Richardson for President sign; New Mexico's Hispanic governor is the favorite of owner Maria Amaya, who wires money and sells such wares as quinceañera dresses and international calling cards that aren't readily available at the mall.

She came to Nashua 22 years ago, and at first found hardly anyone to speak with in Spanish. She opened the Manchester store 15 years ago and made barely enough to cover rent. But immigrants kept trickling into town. A decade ago, she managed to buy the entire building.

"More people came every day, from all the Spanish countries," she said.

It's been a slow-motion shift, nothing like the explosive growth in Texas, the Carolinas or Georgia.


Bilingual sign fight

Some 20 minutes drive to the southwest, the anti-illegal-immigrant movement found an unexpected flashpoint in Merrimack during the summer.

Word had spread about a swimming hole called Naticook Lake. On the weekends, hundreds of out-of-towners showed up and many spoke Spanish. There was drinking and loud music.

Merrimack is 99 percent Anglo, so the visitors stuck out.

Police and park officials asked the town council to spend a few hundred dollars to post the rules in Spanish. Critics decried the "coddling" and argued the signs would encourage immigrants to put off learning English. The council rejected the signs 5-0.

Town councilor Michael Malzone led the fight. In a thick New England accent, he recounted that his Italian grandfather never let his grandchildren speak anything but English.

"I am certainly not a bigot, and I'm not a redneck," said the 47-year-old tile installer. "It's just a little corner of Americana, and we welcome everybody. ... If I decided tomorrow morning that I hate my country and I packed up my whole family – my son, my wife – and we moved to another country, I certainly do not expect that country to change its history, its language and its signs to accommodate me.

"I am certainly not a bigot, and I'm not a redneck," said the 47-year-old tile installer. "It's just a little corner of Americana, and we welcome everybody. ... If I decided tomorrow morning that I hate my country and I packed up my whole family – my son, my wife – and we moved to another country, I certainly do not expect that country to change its history, its language and its signs to accommodate me.

Bravo!

This author putting the comment about being "mostly white" in the title of this article bugs me- this author-like so many others is trying to make this a race issue once again.

This is not about race. It is about illegal aliens.

I don't believe the author's numbers about the number of illegal aliens. I think there are more than they lead on. Manchester and Nashua are the big havens for them. However, I have noticed a large increase in the past few months in Concord. There is a housing development a bunch of illegals are working on-you did not used to see that here. Also just driving around and going to stores, I am seeing what I believe to be more illegals. You hear on the news about illegals committing crimes here quite a bit. My concern is that they will be allowed to vote. NH does not require id to vote. I have written before that I witnessed carloads of Spanish speaking people with Masssachusetts plates vote in Nashua, NH a few years ago. Add that with the fact that in the last election, Moveon.org sat at the polls and was allowed to obtain the names of those people who had not voted yet. I am quite concerned with this.

People in NH need to get their heads out of the sand. People think we don't have a growing illegal problem but we do. If you speak up-you are a radical or a racist. People laugh at you. They call illegals hard workers and raise money for them. Just the fact that they wanted to make NH a sanctuary state-shouldn't that open up people's eyes?

We need a real change in state government here. Our current waste of a governor is pro-illegal yet 80% of the morons in this state voted him in-I do not understand. I understand that people have strong feelings over Iraq, but in the last election that voted out all republicans and many pro-illegal dems got in. What does a local state rep have to do with Iraq? People were that angry over Iraq that they voted out Jeb Bradley-who was endorsed by ALIPAC and very antil-illegal and voted in this nutjob Carol Shea-Porter? She promised she would end the war. Yeah- I see that has happened.

I understand people may be angry over Iraq but guess what-we are still there and now we have many more Amnesty lovers in local, state and federal government. Was it worth it? Support our troops and fight to preserve our country-so they have a country to come home to.

I know there are people in NH fighting this fight like me but not enough people to save our state and our country. How many times can I tell people in NH about this before they get it? Will it take this state being overrun? By then it will be too late.

This author putting the comment about being "mostly white" in the title of this article bugs me- this author-like so many others is trying to make this a race issue once again.

This is not about race. It is about illegal aliens.

I was just getting ready to post this when I saw your comment. Agree 100%!

Do these pro-illegal people really believe that we would be ok with all of the negative consequences of illegal immigration if only the illegals were white? Do they really believe that there are no other races or ethnicities besides whites who oppose illegal immigration? It's such an absurd idea that it's laughable.

I can see why the illegals and some of their supporters would think that though as they do have an ethnocentric, tribal mentality and project that onto the rest of us.

And, yes, a lot of people are voting on Iraq, and not taking into consideration that they are voting in pro-illegal politicians.

I really think that American people in general are basically complacent and that they don't care about things until it directly affects them or someone close to them. This is a huge country, and by the time the illegal situation gets to the point where the majority of Americans are adversely affected on a personal level, it will be too late to do anything about it.

It is important to try to make people understand that even though they might not appear to be affected on a personal level, it is an issue which will have great impact on their future and the futures of their children and grandchildren. But, it really is hard to get across to many people if they have not had negative experiences personally.