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Hispanic approach critical
Originally posted on April 07, 2006

The huge pro-immigration demonstrations across the country recently are a historic milestone in the emergence of Hispanics, particularly Mexicans, as a political force in America.

They are an expression of ethnic pride and a demand for respect and fair treatment, as much as for any particular immigration policy.

But they are also politically dangerous to the extent that they seem to some people to express hostility toward the United States. Leaders and protestors who want these immigrants to follow in the footsteps of previous waves, taking their place in the national ethnic tapestry, need to make their loyalties and intentions clear.

The new assertiveness of Hispanics, especially the rhetoric of the most militant among them, is going to feed the backlash among blacks and whites who feel threatened economically and culturally by this latest immigrant wave.

The danger is that Mexican militancy and nativist backlash will make this complex issue even harder to hash out, and could cost immigrants support among the many Americans who are basically sympathetic.

That could be important in the fight to get constructive immigration reform — as opposed to a mere border crackdown — through Congress.

WIDE SYMPATHY

Americans are generally sympathetic to some form of legalization for illegal immigrants, leading to citizenship. Their general view of immigrants is mixed, cutting across traditional political lines. But there is a bedrock of support based on the realization that Hispanic immigrants, including undocumented ones, are hard workers who perform a vital role in our economy.

The state of U.S. opinion on this issue is itself a matter of debate. There is strong support for preventing future illegal immigration. But several recent polls also indicate support for guest worker or other programs leading to legalization or citizenship:

• An April 2 Associated Press/Ipsos poll found 56 percent favoring temporary worker status for illegal immigrants already in the United States, 41 percent opposed.

• A March 31 Time poll found 79 percent of respondents in favor of a guest worker program, up 6 percent from the same poll two months earlier. Eighteen percent disapproved, down from 23 percent.

• In a March 30 poll by the Pew Hispanic Center, 32 percent backed allowing illegal immigrants already here to stay permanently, while another 32 percent favor a guest-worker program. Only 27 percent said they should be deported, as required under the punitive HB, as the House bill would require.

BE COOL

The immigration issues that have triggered and shaped this sudden outburst of Hispanic passion are complicated and volatile. They won't be solved soon or easily. Mexican immigration — the heart of the matter — poses some special difficulties.

But make no mistake. Millions of Hispanics are here to stay, legally or not, and millions more are coming, through birth or migration. Like other newcomers before them — the Irish, Italians, Jews, Slavs, Asians, and earlier Latinos — they will change the way America looks and sounds.

The overheated rhetoric will be there on both sides. Cooler heads will ignore it, find each other and work for sensible solutions.

The bipartisan Kennedy-McCain legislation, supported by President Bush, which mixes tougher border control with pathways to earned residency and citizenship, is clearly the way to go. It is infinitely wiser than the punitive House Bill 4437, which would make illegal entry a felony and which triggered the outburst of demonstrations.

But Hispanics feeling their oats should remember that passions blaze on both sides of this issue.

If real reform bogs down, their future and America's could be a lot uglier.