Thread: CA: Among GOP voters, ire over illegal immigration

Among GOP voters, ire over illegal immigration
By Julia Prodis Sulek
Mercury News
Article Launched: 01/30/2008 01:31:14 AM PST

ORANGE, California - In a state where illegal immigration is among the most important Republican election issues, in one of the state's most Republican counties, a battle has been raging in an Albertsons parking lot.

At Chapman Avenue and Hewes Street, dozens of day laborers - many of whom are illegal immigrants - have been swarming mothers driving SUVs as they pull in to buy groceries, fed-up locals complain. Women say they are nervous to drop off laundry at the dry cleaners next door and men heading into the Ace Hardware are reluctant to leave their tools in the back of their pickup trucks.

The night after Florida's Republican primary, many of these locals will be glued to their TV sets tonight to watch the CNN-L.A. Times Republican debate broadcast from the Reagan library in Simi Valley. They will be listening carefully for what the candidates have to say about immigration, an issue that has become a defining one for Republicans. They have taken an increasingly tougher stand on the question as the campaign gets closer to California and more than 20 other states on Super Tuesday.

Certainly, the immigration debate is a common California conversation, but here in Orange, not far from where ex-Marine Jim Gilchrist founded the Minuteman Project to send armed civilians to patrol the Mexican border, the words are more amplified.

"As a local elected official, I'm extremely frustrated with the federal government," said Republican Orange Mayor Carolyn

Cavecche, who has led a crackdown on the day laborer problem there. "And a lot of my friends are, too. I run in a pretty conservative group of people, but a lot of people are getting frustrated."

This is not the Orange County of TV's "Real Housewives," of the gated communities and Lexus SUVs, of skinny jeans and long furs and Coco Chanels. This is the Orange County of converging interstates, of minivans and post-war bungalows settled by military families whose children went off to college and came right back home to raise families.

The frustration over immigration is one the Republican candidates, especially, are hoping will translate into an opportunity. A California Field Poll of GOP voters last week showed illegal immigration ranked among the highest on the list of election issues important to Republicans. California Democrats listed health care on top. But immigration is still a critical issue throughout the state, where 83 percent of all voters say they favor some kind of amnesty, if certain rules are followed.

Over the course of the campaign, nearly all the GOP candidates have taken increasingly hard-line stances on border security and amnesty. And it could be a showdown issue between the two front-runners whose positions diverge the most - former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney who opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants and Arizona Sen. John McCain who favors a pathway to citizenship.

The Field Poll of California voters last week showed McCain and Romney in a statistical dead heat. But more recent polls, taken before the Florida primary, show McCain taking a stronger lead.

For Romney, Phyllis Beilharz might be an ideal voter. The day laborer issue in the Albertsons parking lot has her steaming mad.

"It's a nuisance. It's uncomfortable. They stand close to your car. Sometimes you're scared," said Beilharz, 70. "I hope they send them all back. The ones who are citizens can stay, the ones who work hard."

Others say they can't even go to Friendly Donuts, across from Albertsons, without elbowing their way through dozens of day laborers.

But Joaquin Ixmatlahua, 31, who stood in front of the doughnut shop this week, says, "I'm only looking for work - no problems, no drugs - only looking for work."

Still, at Ace Hardware across the street, "the ladies wouldn't come in during the week by themselves" because of the loitering men, said store manager Dino Quesada. "Would I like to see them all here legally? Yes. Are they paying income taxes? No. I'm Mexican and it feels like they're taking advantage of the system."

Despite his complaints, he does not plan to vote for a Republican. He's leaning toward Barack Obama because "he has a big heart."

Many voters are waiting for tonight's debate to help clarify the candidates' ever-shifting immigration positions.

McCain co-wrote the McCain-Kennedy immigration plan advocating a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already here. But as the campaign has progressed, he has put more emphasis on beefing up border security.

Romney has staked out a strong "no amnesty" plan, yet his tough stand was brought into question after voters learned that the landscaping company working at his own home employed illegal immigrants. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani each took softer stands on illegal immigration. Then, the issue became more intense on the campaign trail.

Southern California radio stations are airing advertisements this week for Huckabee's new book, in which he advocates giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. But that was printed before he accepted the endorsement of the Minuteman Project's Gilchrist, and announced a new immigration plan that would require illegal immigrants to leave the country and apply for citizenship later.

Giuliani, as New York mayor, had complimented illegal immigrants as "some of the hardest working and most productive people in this city." But in an interview last month, he said if he thought the illegal immigrants in New York could realistically be deported, "I would have turned all the people over."

According to Mark DiCamillo of the Field Poll, tonight's debate "is going to be very important. People's opinions might be mollified. Those opposed to amnesty - maybe McCain will calm their fears. You have to wait and see."

The mayor of Orange will be watching.

She's put a police officer on patrol full time to go to where day laborers gather and hired more code enforcers for the illegal boarding houses that rent space to more than a dozen men at a time.

After the past month of extra enforcement and new regulations, the Albertsons parking lot has mostly cleared out, but dozens still hang out at Friendly Donuts.

"For me, it's like squeezing Jello. You know, what I did just put them in someone else's town," Cavecche said. "I'm going to take care of my city. It's what I was elected to do."

Now, she said, if only a new president would do the same.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_8116 ... ck_check=1

Despite his complaints, he does not plan to vote for a Republican. He's leaning toward Barack Obama because "he has a big heart."

This is exactly why this country is doomed. People cast votes for candidates because they have "big hearts."

People cast votes because the candidate presents him/herself well. Or he/she has a big heart. Or the candidate is attractive. Or because of gender or race.

It's difficult to compete against the likes of Hillary and Obama when they have the MSM backing them. But it's close to impossible to also have to compete against my fellow Americans who go to the booths with a predisposition for ignorance.

Big Heart--but the money will come from us, not fro Obama's big wallet!!!

As always misterbill. As always...