Thread: Far from border imm may decide 2 congress seats

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Far from border, immigration may decide 2 Congress seats

By Oscar Avila and John Biemer
Tribune staff reporters
Published October 29, 2006


The banners at the meeting read "Somos America," or "We are America." Mexican and Asian immigrants there invoked the dignity of all immigrants, whether legal or not, and declared the current system for entering this country "broken."

Outside, a small group of U.S. citizens held signs of their own: "Wake up and smell the invasion," and "Honk if you want the borders secured."

This showdown took place Oct. 22--not in El Paso, Texas, or Tucson, Ariz., but in the western suburb of Carol Stream. Nearly 1,500 miles from the Rio Grande, border security and illegal immigration have emerged as defining issues in two bitterly contested congressional races in the Chicago suburbs.

Consider: A recent Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll found that illegal immigration is the top concern for Republicans in the 6th and 8th Congressional Districts, a swath of suburbia that ranges from DuPage to Lake County.

The American Immigration Law Foundation released a study Tuesday that estimates 81,000 undocumented immigrants live in those districts, with the 8th District seeing a 43 percent increase since 2000.

This is the new suburban political landscape, where immigrants--legal and illegal--play a central role in the region's economy but where many residents watch the influx with dismay, seeing these newcomers as economic drains.

Jonathan Collegio, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the party is running immigration ads in most of the three dozen contested suburban House districts nationwide."In most suburban districts, like the Illinois 6th, the two issues that tend to move votes the most are taxes and then immigration," Collegio said.

In the 6th District, GOP candidate Peter Roskam's TV ads show Mexicans streaming across the border. He has called his Democratic opponent, Tammy Duckworth, "liberal" for her support of an immigration reform bill.

In the 8th, a mailer for Republican David McSweeney shows an image of Osama bin Laden and charges that "illegal immigration threatens our national security."

Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran, and Rep. Melissa Bean, a Democrat and the 8th District incumbent, have tried to shore up their immigration-enforcement credentials by calling for the deployment of thousands more border patrol agents.

At the same time, Bean has faced criticism from Democrats for being too tough on immigration enforcement. Several dozen immigrant advocates protested outside Bean's office in Schaumburg after she joined 35 other Democrats in voting for a bill to extend a border fence and make illegal immigration a felony. Some analysts say that if Republican candidates employ scare tactics on immigration--linking it to terrorism, for instance--they could scare away an emerging bloc of suburban Hispanic voters, who some see as potential GOP voters because of their social conservatism.

When Eddy Batres received the bin Laden mailer at his Schaumburg home a few weeks ago, the naturalized citizen from Guatemala began questioning his loyalty to the Republican Party. Batres, 46, even crashed a Roskam campaign event to protest the Republican ads.

"I am very proud of the foundations of the Republican Party," Batres said. "In this particular case, I am ashamed. I am begging my party to stop this kind of politics."

An August study by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights found that the 6th and 8th Districts gained more than 45,000 naturalized citizens combined since 2000. Most were from Mexico but also India and elsewhere, and now they can vote in U.S. elections.

Still, the Tribune poll and interviews show that illegal immigration has energized the Republican base.

That includes voters such as Clifton Sanders, 75, of Addison, who said he is voting for Roskam because of Roskam's stance on immigration. Sanders complains that illegal immigrants are getting free education, food stamps and free health care while taxes keep rising.

In reality, illegal immigrants are not eligible for food stamps and are eligible only for emergency medical care.

Sanders criticized Duckworth--and Bush--for supporting "amnesty" for illegal immigrants.

"How can our elected officials pass a law to protect lawbreakers?" Sanders asked. "That blows my mind. The people in this area, in this nation, are they so stupid they can't see that?"

One of the problems I have begun to see is I am seeing more and more hispanic senior citizens entering this country. Why should be taking in elderly people? What do they have to offer this country? I don't have anything against elderly people but it should not be the U.S. taxpayers responsibility to support senior citizens of another nation.

Originally Posted by sawdust

One of the problems I have begun to see is I am seeing more and more hispanic senior citizens entering this country. Why should be taking in elderly people? What do they have to offer this country? I don't have anything against elderly people but it should not be the U.S. taxpayers responsibility to support senior citizens of another nation.

SAW

Dixie mentioned this yesterday and I was very surprised. Needless to say, extremely concerned too. What the heck? It's SOCIAL SECURITY folks.

WE HAVEN'T DEMANDED ENOUGH TOO NICE, POLICIAL NICEST IS WHY WE ARE WERE WE ARE....

BROKEN GOVERNMENT...Government M.I.A....Not Listening
BROKEN IMMIGRATION.... Illegal Aliens Can't Walk In And Become Citizens
BROKEN LAWS...Law Enforcement and Government Working For Mexico
BROKEN BORDERS...Fences Cracked And Split and 2” High
BROKEN CONGRESS...Removed Due To …Can't Do, Hasn't Done And Won't Do
CAUSED BY pOLITICAL cORRECTNESS AND pOLICAL cOWARDS IN GOVERNMENT