immigration
Radio hosts gather in D.C. to blast illegal immigration
By Eunice Moscoso
Cox News Service
Article Last Updated: 04/25/2007 02:04:21 AM MDT

Washington - Thirty-seven conservative radio talk show hosts from across the country converged in the nation's capital this week to urge Congress to reject legislation that would offer a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

In an event dubbed "Hold Their Feet to the Fire," the radio personalities set up shop at a hotel near the Capitol and broadcast live to their home audiences, demanding more security along the U.S.-Mexico border and a bigger crackdown on employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Roger Hedgecock, a radio talk show host in San Diego who came up with the idea of the gathering, complained in a radio interview Tuesday that "our jails are filled with illegals" and that illegal immigrants have increased crime and drug activity and killed many Americans through drunken-driving accidents.

He said that today's immigrants do not want to assimilate into American culture and demand to be taught in their native tongues.

Immigrant advocates and Latino groups say the talk show hosts propagate anti-immigrant messages and do not have the evidence to support the charges they make.

"This has always been a very emotional issue. As the immigration debate heats up in Congress, it's also going to heat up around the country," said Michele Waslin, director of immigration policy research at the National Council of La Raza.

Waslin pointed to a recent poll released by USA Today and Gallup that showed that 78 percent of Americans agree that people now in the country illegally should be given a chance at citizenship.

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_5742345