A 'red herring'?
Anti-immigration groups allege quality-of-life impacts


By Kelly Davis

The hotter the debate over illegal immigration gets, the better for groups like Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS). Since 2005, the Santa Barbara-based nonprofit that seeks to end illegal immigration has seen its public donations quadruple, from $354,188 that year, according to the group’s federal tax returns, to $729,385 in 2006 and $1.4 million in 2007.

The extra revenue has allowed CAPS to produce a number of TV and print ads that blame California’s social, economic and environmental problems on undocumented immigrants. The most recent effort, a TV commercial targeting California’s so-called “sanctuary cities,â€