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Opportunists taking advantage of immigration debate

By Ruben Navarrette Jr.

AT the grass roots, the immigration debate is rapidly going the way of the abortion debate.
It has become a clash of absolutes with no negotiable middle ground, where each side is sure that its position is the only morally correct one, and that the other camp's view has no redeemable features.

Making matters worse, there is the element of racism and other forms of bigotry real and imagined. Throughout their history, Americans have never been able to discuss immigration reform in a calm, rational, ethnicity-neutral way. Somehow, it always boils down to who we are trying to keep out the Irish, Italians, Germans, Chinese, etc.

And today, the debate is, for the most part, about keeping out Mexicans and other Latin Americans.

That was evident when several hundred people in Carlsbad turned out for a forum on illegal immigration and dozens of others turned out to protest.

Scratch that. The word "forum' is too generous. That is where both sides of an issue are presented, with the goal being to enlighten. In this lopsided, stacked-deck political rally, only one side was given a hearing, and the goal seemed to be simply to inflame passions.

It worked. Consider the sign around the neck of a 20-something Latino protester who taunted the crowd waiting in line outside the auditorium. It read: "The KKK started out attacking immigrants.' That's a real attention-getter.

Of course, the person trying hardest to get attention was the event's organizer, Republican state Sen. Bill Morrow, who represents this area just north of San Diego.

Morrow's minions kept a tight rein on who was let into the event and who wasn't. They tried to identify those sympathetic to tighter immigration restrictions, and they made up excuses about how the "fire code' didn't allow them to let in more people.

Then the minions waved in other folks whose names, they said, were on the "VIP' list. When I asked how someone got to be a VIP, I was told that it was by volunteering with Morrow's office or otherwise being a supporter.

Not surprisingly, when Morrow asked the crowd of about 450 how many of them thought that illegal immigration was a crisis, all but four or five people quickly raised their hands.

As for Morrow, the about-to-be- term-limited state legislator seems to have at least two deeply held convictions that illegal immigration is a problem that deserves attention, and that he deserves to be elected to Congress.

On the day of the event, Morrow announced that he intends to run for the seat being vacated by the retiring Rep. Randy "Duke' Cunningham. The Republican congressman is the focus of a federal investigation for selling his San Diego-area home to a defense contractor who did business with the government.

Now Morrow wants to go to Washington, and he seems to think that illegal immigration will get him there.

Selling influence is one thing. But in my book, it's what Morrow is doing bashing immigrants for political gain that's the real scandal.

It's despicable and not terribly original. Former California Gov. Pete Wilson did it in his 1994 re-election bid. Patrick J. Buchanan made immigrant-bashing a key part of his presidential campaigns.

And the trend continues. Chris Simcox, one of the organizers of the Minuteman Project, aka "Vigilantes Are Us,' says he is running for Congress. So is Robert Vasquez, a county commissioner in Idaho who is making national headlines for taking a hard line against illegal immigration though I'm not sure the media would notice if his last name were Smith or Jones. If Simcox and Vasquez make it to Congress, they can pal around with Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who has been riding the illegal immigration issue for so long he must have saddle sores.

Vasquez and Tancredo spoke at the Morrow rally. So did James Gilchrist, another of the organizers of the Minuteman Project, and California Assemblyman Ray Haynes, who wants to start a state-run border patrolling agency.

Now Democratic governors are getting into the act. Gov. Bill Richardson recently declared that New Mexico is in a state of emergency because of illegal immigration. Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona later did the same thing.

Neither governor seemed all that alarmed at the reason their states have so many illegal immigrants in the first place because employers continue to hire illegal immigrants.

Are all these people racists? Heavens no. But they sure seem to be opportunists. And, in a debate as emotionally charged as this one, that's not much of an improvement.