Chicago Latino trying to fight illegal immigration
'There are a lot of Hispanics out there like me'

February 11, 2007
BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA Staff Reporter
Rosanna Pulido is proud of her Mexican heritage. So proud that she has committed herself to championing the rights of Mexicans and other immigrants who, like her own parents, came to this country to live the American dream. Legally, that is.
Pulido actively fights illegal immigration -- she founded the Illinois Minuteman Project, a civilian group that works against illegal immigration, in 2005 -- and believes illegal immigrants dilute opportunities for those who arrive legally. For that, she has been painted a traitor to her own people, bombarded with nasty e-mail and threatened with bodily harm.

But that hasn't dissuaded Pulido, a 50-year-old North Center resident, and she's ready to take on a new role. Pulido is the new Illinois chapter leader of You Don't Speak For Me, a Washington, D.C.-based organization made up of U.S.-born Hispanics and legal Hispanic immigrants who believe illegal immigrants -- and politicians eager to pander to special interest groups-- are cheating hard working, legal immigrants and U.S. citizens by diverting already scarce taxpayer resources.

Like the founders of You Don't Speak for Me, she is incensed by some lawmakers' priorities. "We have politicians who've voted in plenty of benefits to illegal aliens like in-state college tuition and low home-loans," said Pulido. "But what about senior citizens who need health care or the fact that Illinois wounded veterans are lowest paid in the U.S.?"


Critics have called her token
The new group with close to 5,000 members, she estimates, is made up of Hispanics, which might mute some of the criticism aimed at her Minutemen involvement. In the past, Latino leaders such as Jessica Aranda of the Latino Union of Chicago have called her the Minutemen's token, used only to deflect the group's inherently white supremacist ideology. Pulido shrugs it off.
"I believe there are a lot of Hispanics out there like me who are afraid to speak out," said Pulido. "I'm uniting with other Latinos who know we must stand up for the rule of law and fight for every American citizen no matter what race or ethnicity they are."

ecepeda@suntimes.com


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