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January 8, 2006

Rosendo Majano

Hispanic residents of the United States are sharply divided over what to do about the influx of undocumented immigrants, an issue that is shaping up as a key one prior to November's mid-term elections, a new survey shows.

"Hispanic registered voters are strongly supporting initiatives to reform immigration while penalizing illegal behavior," said the head of the non-profit Latino Coaliton, Robert Deposada, at a press conference where he discussed the results of the 2005 National Latino Survey released on Thursday.

In addition, the telephone survey - which was carried out in both Spanish and English among 1,000 Latinos between Dec. 10-13 - highlights the largest and most rapidly growing U.S. minority's preferences and internal differences in education, health care, housing and politics.

The opinions of Latinos on immigration are clearly differentiated between those who are registered voters and those who have not yet registered or who are not entitled to vote, among them permanent residents possessing so-called "Green Cards."

A majority of Latino voters - 52.4 percent - support initiatives that would not allow the naturalization of foreigners who enter the United States illegally.

Fifty percent of those surveyed support an increase in the number of U.S. Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico frontier, as well as laws guaranteeing that employers may only hire foreigners who are living in the United States legally.

"An overwhelming majority of 82 percent support the creation of a new Temporary Worker Program. Also, a plurality - 41.2 percent to 39.9 percent - support imposing a fine of at least $2,000 for illegal immigrants in order to gain legal employment as a temporary worker in the U.S.," Deposada said.

He added that the annual survey by the Latino Coalition "has become the most reliable and accurate study on Hispanic political and consumer behavior in the U.S."

Deposada said that the survey shows that there are two very different segments within the U.S. Hispanic community: those who have lived here for years, speak English, are registered to vote and have better financial status and more education, and recent arrivals with low economic resources, who speak mainly Spanish and are very worried about immigration policy and the language barrier.

"Politicians from both political parties need to understand these differences and the diversity within the Latino community if they want to successfully reach out to these voters and future voters," Deposada noted.

Sixty-one percent of those Hispanics not registered to vote oppose an increase in the number of Border Patrol agents, while 50 percent want undocumented immigrants to be allowed to become naturalized U.S. citizens, the survey states.

The poll also makes clear, Deposada said, that although the Republican Party has made "enormous progress under President George W. Bush" in attracting Hispanic voters, "there is real danger for a repeat of the Pete Wilson era that alienated Hispanics from the GOP for years."

"If the Republican leadership in Congress allows an extremist group to control the debate over immigration reform and put partisan rhetoric over real common sense legislation, the GOP will eliminate all the progress achieved by President Bush in attracting Hispanics into the GOP," he said.

Although the survey shows that Hispanic voters remain very conservative on social and economic issues, when asked what party they identify with, Democrats outpaced Republicans by a margin of 58 percent to 23 percent, compared to a margin of 52 percent to 29 percent in last year's survey.

"The Republican Party is rapidly losing all the gains they achieved under President Bush in the Hispanic community," Deposada added. "If the GOP wants to remain competitive among Hispanic voters, they need to wage an all out effort to regain the momentum."

Deposada placed the accuracy of the survey at plus or minus 3.1 percent.

There are more than 40 million Hispanics living in the United States.