http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 485776.htm

Posted on Tue, May. 02, 2006

Opponents of illegal immigration sound off
THEIR MESSAGE: JUST FOLLOW THE LAW
By Jessie Mangaliman
Mercury News

Watching massive marches across the country calling for a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants, Roberta Allen felt her anger slowly rising.

``They have a lot of gall coming here and demanding rights that aren't theirs to have,'' said Allen, 62, a San Jose small business owner. ``I've no problem with legal immigrants. It's illegal aliens I have a problem with.''

Allen refers to her point of view as ``the other side'' in the debate over immigration reform. But after ceding the spotlight in recent days and weeks to immigrants' supporters, she and some of her fellow opponents are looking to a series of counter demonstrations to show their point of view.

These organizers say they represent the American mainstream, and polls suggest that in at least some of their arguments, they do. Most of those questioned in several surveys over the last month say it should be a crime to enter the United States and stay illegally. And 81 percent of respondents in a Gallup poll last month agreed with one of the central tenets of the opposition: that illegal immigration is ``out of control.''

But those same surveys also show that strong majorities of Americans favor allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the United States if they meet certain requirements. That's a place where at least the most vocal opponents beg to differ.

Locally, they hope to make that point with ``National Anti-illegal Alien Protest Rally Days'' at Central Park in Santa Clara on Friday and Saturday. The date was chosen deliberately to coincide with Cinco de Mayo -- a Latino celebration. Elsewhere, the Minuteman Project, a group of volunteers who patrol the U.S.-Mexico border, plan to launch a 12-city caravan tour today, heading to Washington, D.C., for a May 12 rally.

Opponents are also active on the Internet, with a number of newly created Web sites. Although some of those sites veer toward racism, most make a simple, law-and-order argument. America's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, they say, are lawbreakers who should not be rewarded with a path to citizenship, but instead should be deported.

Their concerns are many. Some call illegal immigrants a burden on schools and hospitals. Others say they inordinately contribute to crime, including high membership in prison and street gangs. Still others worry that illegal immigrants take jobs away from, and lower the wages of, natives and legal immigrants.

Some of the most extreme views can be seen on Web sites and heard on talk radio, where undocumented immigrants are described as bringing diseases across the border and threatening American culture by refusing to assimilate and living in their own enclaves.

Some of these worries are widely shared. Last week's flap over a pop recording of the National Anthem in Spanish -- which included President George Bush, generally considered a moderate on immigration issues, among its detractors -- was a potent example.

Kimberly Vigneault, 40, is a key organizer behind the upcoming protests that so far have coordinators in 15 states including California. A personal story that she tells on her Web site, grantprotest.com, offers an emotional counterpoint to popular tales of the anguish of illegal immigrants, and has resonated with many other activists.

Vigneault says she was infected with tuberculosis by an undocumented immigrant in a Riverside County Hospital. Hospital officials later acknowledged that an infected employee may indeed have exposed hundreds of patients to disease, although they never confirmed the employee was an illegal immigrant.

The experience energized Vigneault, after years in which she had worried about the the growing numbers of ``illegals in my daughter's school'' who don't speak English, and the uninsured ones who use public medical services.

A month ago, she launched her movement with a Web site that provides a gateway to a number of other opposition Web sites, including the site of the Minuteman Project. The range of the Internet quickly helped her forge connections with like-minded people elsewhere.

Still, Vigneault strives to keep a measured tone. ``I just hope that everybody keeps a cool head during our protest,'' Vigneault said. ``I want people to know of the other side of this issue, that people aren't willing to be pushed over.''

Amid marches and boycotts aimed at demonstrating immigrants' contribution to America's economy, many opponents of illegal immigration hope to make a contrary point: That many of these undocumented workers are a burden on society.

They cite studies of the impact of illegal immigrants on U.S. hospital emergency rooms and social service programs -- studies that suggest these immigrants cost more in government services than they pay in taxes, especially if you figure in the cost of public schools.

However, some of those same studies note that this imbalance is typical of all low-income families, regardless of their immigration status. ``In all of this,'' said Reshma Shamasunder, director of the California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative, ``immigrants keep getting scapegoated.''

But even some who have great sympathy for immigrants worry about the impact of illegal immigration.

``The protests were wrong,'' said Nelson De Sousa, 35, of San Jose, a son of Portuguese immigrants who owns a small house-cleaning business. ``There's a right way to do things, and they've come here illegally. They're not respecting what our country's values are, what we're about.''

De Sousa said he has hired Latino immigrants but only after checking their driver's licenses. He believes in better regulation of employers when they hire immigrants.

Randy Breunling, 50, a software and data engineer in Sunnyvale, said the waving of Mexican flags at the protests provoked ``some anger and frustration.''

``I'm proud of what America stands for, even though we have problems,'' he said. ``If they're out there protesting for rights they don't have, why are they flying the Mexican flag? What message does that give me as an American?''

Breunling says it isn't feasible for the government to round up and deport nearly 12 million people, ``but it wouldn't hurt if we took some action to send some back. Just as it wouldn't hurt to take action against employers here who employ them.''

Pamela Stone of San Jose, a retired administrative assistant in her 60s, said she will attend the opposition rally.

``I didn't like amnesty when we gave it in 1986,'' she said, referring to 20-year old immigration reforms that led to legalization of three million illegal immigrants. ``The Senate then promised they'd never do this again. All this does is bring more of them in and make America look like an idiot.''

Contact Jessie Mangaliman at jmangaliman@mercurynews. com or (40 920-5794.