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Panel debates immigration law
La Opinion editor, Minuteman spar at Mt. SAC
By Wendy Leung Staff Writer
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

WALNUT - Representing the nation's disparate opinions on immigration, a panel of experts at Mt. San Antonio College plunged into the topic Thursday, showing the kind of divisiveness often seen in Washington.

As the group debated the impact of illegal immigration on the United States, the Senate debated a 700-mile fence for the Mexican border, placing prospects of comprehensive national reform on the back burner.

Speaking to the crowd of mostly Mt. SAC students, Jorge Macias, an editor for the Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion, said, "A divided community will never move forward."

And divided seems to be a fitting word to describe the nearly three-hour discussion by a panel consisting of a bishop, an immigrant-rights advocate, a California Minutemen leader, lawyers and journalists.

Mark Cromer, a fellow at Californians for Population Stabilization, attributed illegal immigration to a neglectful Mexican government.

"It's a crisis and a tragedy what has happened to much of Latin America," Cromer said. "Mexico is a nation that is being run by a corrupt oligarchy that's making Wall Street look clean."

But the North American Free Trade Agreement and trade policies in general, said Angelica Salas of the Coalition of Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, play a significant role in displacing many Mexicans, especially those whose livelihoods depend on farming.

"Yes, it is the corruption," Salas said, "but the U.S. participates in making that happen through trade agreements and also through its support of many of these governments."

The debate, while remaining civil throughout, had its fair share of heated moments.

Macias sometimes answered questions posed to him in Spanish and sometimes in English. Macias said he felt more comfortable asking Salas to translate for him because he didn't want to use the wrong word.

"This is an American college on American soil," said Carl Braun, leader of the California Minutemen. "It's not fair to the folks who don't speak Spanish."

Braun, who considers his volunteer border patrol group to be the "eyes and ears of this country," said Mexican nationals who cross the border illegally should be held responsible for committing crimes. He added that many illegal immigrants here have also committed identity theft.

But while the United States is a nation of laws, it is also a country of fairness, Salas said. Laws in the past, she noted, have also allowed slavery and denied women the vote.

"At present, yes, we have an immigration law but it's a law that doesn't make sense for immigrants or for the American public," she said.

The system is broken, Macias said, and the kind of reform needed is one that looks at the dignity and humanity of people.

Speaking through a translator, Macias said, "How many more families, how many more spouses, how many more people are going to die as they cross the border because they're trying to survive and trying to escape hunger from their own home country?"

wendy.leung@dailybulletin.com

(909) 483-9376.