Thread: Illegal immigrants slip as hot voter issue in Texas

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 05684.html

March 9, 2008, 11:21PM
CAMPAIGN 2008
Illegal immigrants slip as hot voter issue
All hopefuls back some path to citizenship

By SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle


Once billed as the hot-button issue for the 2008 presidential race, pollsters and pundits expect illegal immigration to fade from the spotlight heading into the November general election.

With Sen. John McCain clinching the Republican nomination, immigration essentially has become a non-issue in presidential debates, said Mark Jones, a Rice University political science professor. The Arizona senator co-sponsored a bipartisan immigration bill that would have granted legal status to illegal immigrants in the U.S. — a proposal that alienated a portion of his party base.

That means the three remaining leading candidates for president — including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama — have supported a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

The cooling down of immigration as a hot election-year issue is backed up by recent polls.

Roughly one in 10 Harris County voters identified immigration as the most important issue in determining his or her vote in the general election, according to a recent poll commissioned by the Houston Chronicle. The poll, conducted by Zogby International, found immigration was far more important among GOP voters, with 20 percent of Republicans ranking it as their top issue — compared with 3 percent of Democrats.

It is doubtful any major immigration legislation will pass in an election year. However, given the position of the three White House contenders, the next president may revive immigration next year.

Some experts warn that opposition to legalization remains strong in many communities.

"It's just too much of a controversial issue," said Marisa Abrajano, an assistant political science professor at the University of California, San Diego. "Certainly, I think there are many legislators who want to talk about immigration and get things done, but it's something the candidates wouldn't want to debate right now."

Pollster: 'Dud issue'
Late last summer, immigration seemed destined to be a major factor in the presidential race. In the first months of the primary campaign, some Republican candidates campaigned heavily on an anti-illegal immigration platform.

McCain's presidential bid stalled last summer amid a massive grass-roots effort to kill an immigration bill he supported. Since then, McCain has tried to distance himself from talk of legalization, focusing instead on border enforcement.

In the end, immigration appears to be a "dud" issue for Republican candidates, said Republican pollster David Hill, whose Houston-area firm has conducted polling for Republican candidates since the 1980s.

Tom Tancredo, a Republican congressman from Colorado, ran on an anti-illegal immigration platform. Exit polls in Florida showed Mitt Romney may have been hurt by his anti-illegal immigration rhetoric.

Hill said campaigning on illegal immigration could help in states with recent and rapid growth in immigrant populations, such as Illinois or Iowa.

In Texas, a diverse border state, he credited talk radio and cable TV with "stoking the flames" over immigration. Voters tend to have strong feelings about immigration but often vote based on issues they think have a greater impact, Hill said.

"I think people wake up worrying about their heath care bills, or costs or inflation," Hill said. "I don't think anybody woke up — even in Houston, Texas, this morning — worried about an invasion of illegal aliens."

In the Chronicle poll, 35 percent of those surveyed name the economy as their most important issue. Fifteen percent named the war in Iraq, and 11 percent said health care.

Gary Suydam, a 59-year-old computer network consultant, ranks immigration as his top issue. He voted for Mike Huckabee in the GOP primary, he said, largely based on immigration.

"I feel immigration is the number one domestic issue we face today," he said. "When you take into account the cost of illegal immigration on health care or on the prison system or the schools or anything else, you solve a lot of things with the economic crisis."

No consensus
Nationally, polls have shown a majority of Americans support legalization. A May New York Times/CBS News poll showed 62 percent of respondents said illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. for two years or more should be allowed to apply for legal residency.

The recent Chronicle poll found that by a narrow margin — 48 percent to 42 percent — Harris County voters would support a path toward citizenship for illegal immigrants. About 10 percent reported they were undecided.

Despite the polls, many Americans deeply oppose illegal immigration. Arizona enacted legislation punishing employers who hire undocumented workers. Oklahoma passed laws making it harder for illegal immigrants to get benefits.

Emilie Brown, a 68-year-old Houston native, said she was open to legalization, "as long as they go through the system." The wife of a retired Houston police officer, Brown said she was not opposed to anyone trying to "live the good life."

"It's the illegal stuff that bothers me," she said.

Among Democrats, there still is a significant split on legalization. About 54 percent of Democrats in the Chronicle poll said they would support legalization, compared with about 40 percent of Republicans.

"I think everybody has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — regardless of which side of the river they're born on," said 56-year-old Jean Crandall, who voted in last week's Democratic primary.

Jaime Galindo, 39, another Democrat, is conflicted about legalization, saying he generally would oppose legalizing undocumented residents. He and his pregnant wife, a legal immigrant from the Philippines, are having trouble paying their bills earning $12.50 and $9.50 an hour, respectively, working at a Houston grocery store.

"It's hard because we're the people trying to do the right thing, and we're struggling," he said. "And people keep coming in here illegally. I just don't know. That may play into my taxes."

susan.carroll@chron.com

The reporter who wrote this article is quoting the Lake Tarrant sham statistics favoring legalization without properly explaining to readers how they were faked.

Since the Houston Chronicle is a liberal newspaper this article is no surprise.

What I do find in most of these articles is the lack of pointing out that even though the economy has upstaged illegal immigration at this time, it is still a hot button issue.

It is during this same election cycle that Eliot Spitzer was hit by angry New Yorkers about drivers licenses for illegal aliens. Border agents being attacked has risen, incursions into the US by the Mexican military has increased. Kidnappings in Laredo Texas area have increased. Many states are waking up to the financial costs that are killing their budgets and the health of their cities, counties, and states. NO it is still a hot button issue. It's a hot button issue with the people who are being hit right between the eyes with closed hospitals, overcrowded and substandard education, crime and all of this hits their wallets with it.

We wanted to write an article we could counter all of these points with more than opinion. We would counter them with facts.