Thread: CA-GOP candidates seize on illegal immigration

GOP candidates seize on illegal immigration

The San Francisco Chronicle (California)
March 20, 2010
By Carla Marinucci

As thousands of activists prepare to descend on Washington on Sunday to demand sweeping immigration reform, the Republican candidates for California governor are seizing on ending illegal immigration as an election issue.

Immigrant advocates are demanding a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants, while the California candidates are demanding tougher border enforcement and crackdowns on "sanctuary cities" like San Francisco.

State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman raised the issue at the state GOP convention last weekend, saying that tough economic times and a $20 billion budget deficit require the next California governor to take a very hard stance against illegal immigration.

Poizner told The Chronicle this week that illegal immigration would be one of his "top priorities" as governor, insisting he would be much tougher on the issue that Whitman.

Poizner's stance

"I supported Prop. 187, and she does not," he said, referring to the 1994 initiative, approved by voters but struck down by a federal court that would have banned illegal immigrants from using public services in California.

He said he opposes taxpayer-supported education and health care benefits to illegal immigrants and their children because the cash-strapped state can no longer foot those bills for them and its citizens are "taxed out".

Whitman's chief strategist, Mike Murphy, said she "is as tough as nails" on illegal immigration, supporting efforts to secure the border and opposing sanctuary cities.

But he said Whitman doesn't support Prop. 187-style efforts to remove kids from state services such as health care and K-12 education, saying "there's a line you cross when it becomes gratuitous, and it's important not to cross that line."

Bringing up the controversial issue less than three months before the June 8 primary election is risky because many Latinos - increasingly important as voters in California - painfully recall the pro-Prop. 187 advertisement that showed grainy images of Mexicans crossing the border with the warning: "They keep coming."

Why this issue now?

But advocates for immigrants questioned the candidates' focus, saying illegal immigration has fallen in California during the economic downturn.

In addition, the Obama administration has increased deportations and is cracking down on employers who exploit illegal immigrant workers.

"The Republicans have to figure out: Do they need the taste of red meat more than they need the taste of victory in an election in California?" said Fernand Amandi, vice president of Bendixen and Amandi, a national polling firm that ran the Latino outreach program for Barack Obama's general election campaign and has consulted for Republican candidates.

Moreover, a recent Pew Research study showed illegal immigration ranks at the bottom of the 20 leading issues with voters, who are far more concerned with jobs, the economy, education and health care.

"It's shameful that they are returning to old rhetoric because even the current Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been clear to state that the economic woes have nothing to do with illegal immigrant workers," said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, which is sending a group of protesters to the march in Washington this weekend.

Mike Garcia, president of SEIU-United Service Workers West, an arm of the 1.9 million member national SEIU labor union powerhouse, said the candidates are "stirring up the anti-illegal immigrant fires for the very conservative, small base of voters in the primary."'

But some Republicans say the party has come a long way since 1994 in understanding the nuances required to explore a sensitive issue with critical impacts.

Still, they say it can resonate with voters - and particularly Latinos - if the discussion centers not on illegal immigrants but on budgetary concerns, particularly impacts on the job market, public services and public safety.

"You've got a 12.5 percent unemployment rate - and in the Latino community, it's closer to 20 percent," said Hector Barajas, a GOP strategist working for Whitman's campaign. "You've got large dropout rates and high foreclosure rates. These are the issues that Latinos care about.

"Without a job, Latino families have no future; without an education, that family continues to be stuck in a cycle of poverty," he said, adding that's why Whitman's campaign has kept the focus on "creating jobs, controlling spending and reforming education."

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Seems like Whitman does not understand the difference between legal and illegal. Latinos comprise both ends of the spectrum, but for her to base her argument on Latinos being a lump of people is childish.
Hopefully, California voters are smarter than that.

I don't know why they say it is the bottom 20 of importance. It is because of illegals that many Americans don't have jobs, so it goes hand in hand. Also, in L.A. county alone, it costs millions to educate them and pay for their health care. As far as Megs comment about education, they shouldn't be here in the first place so education shouldn't be a consideration. And what does Arnold know anyway. It DOES cost the state money. Without a job, Americans have no furture. Without education, Americans will continue to live in poverty. I don't want Meg or Poizner. I am rooting for Larry Naritelli.

Without a job, Latino families have no future; without an education, that family continues to be stuck in a cycle of poverty," he said, adding that's why Whitman's campaign has kept the focus on "creating jobs, controlling spending and reforming education.

This seems like Mexico's problem not ours. They should not have the right to even step foot on American soil, let alone get educated or work here. They should be used to poverty any way.

"It's shameful that they are returning to old rhetoric because even the current Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been clear to state that the economic woes have nothing to do with illegal immigrant workers," said Angelica Salas

Clearly the governor has no clue how to finance the state of California. If he did we would not be in set of circumanstances we are facing now. Illegal aliens are sucking up all of the resources without providing a srtong enough tax base to cover thier expenses.

What the pro-amnesty stooges fail to articulate is that many hispanic voters voted FOR Prop. 187. I'm starting to see comments against amnesty on spanish language sites...in spanish. It's a universal, multicultural movement...do not reward lawbreakers..NO amnesty!