http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3703131.html

March 6, 2006, 4:39PM



ELECTION 2006
Border security hot topic in Dist. 7
GOP primary candidates do not agree on how to solve the issue of illegal immigration
By KRISTEN MACK
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Several candidates in Tuesday's primary are trying to appeal to voters by focusing on people who can't vote.

Illegal immigration has emerged as the No. 1 issue in several local races, most notably the closely watched GOP primary for state Senate District 7.

A number of candidates are demanding tighter borders, though specific proposals vary.

Immigration control is a federal government function, but candidates say state officials must take a larger role.

"The concept of it not being a local or state issue is not carrying water anymore," said Mark Ellis, one of the four Republicans running to succeed retiring Sen. Jon Lindsay in District 7. "Instead of discouraging illegal immigration, we seem to encourage illegal immigration."

Shortly before his six-year tenure as a Houston City Council member ended last year, Ellis proposed a measure to rescind a Houston Police Department policy against inquiring about the immigration status of the people police encounter or arrest. By then, he knew that he planned to make the race in District 7, where his prospective constituents list immigration among top concerns.

The issue has gained special resonance with suburban Republican voters, even in neighborhoods where the immigrant population is low.

In District 7, 14 percent of the residents are foreign-born and 9 percent are noncitizens, according to the Texas Legislative Council — though that count probably misses some illegal immigrants.

The strain on taxes and resources affects everyone, regardless of the number of immigrants in the district, said state Rep. Peggy Hamric, who is running in District 7 against Ellis, state Rep. Joe Nixon and talk-show host Dan Patrick.

"State money that is being spent on things like protecting our borders is not going to be spent on local issues," she said.


'Immigrants as scapegoat'
Supporters of tighter immigration enforcement blame illegal immigration for the rise in health care cost and overcrowded schools.

Others say immigrants make a convenient target.

"It is easy to use immigrants as a scapegoat," said Laura Barrera, a District 7 resident. "Instead of facing the crisis we have in education and health care, let's blame the illegal immigrants for our problems, so we don't have to face those issues head on."

Barrera, who attends St. Cecilia church and is a member of The Metropolitan Organization grass-roots community group, says immigration has emerged as a big issue in this year's primaries because of its potential for arousing voter interest.

"It's like pandering to the emotions of people," said Barrera, who is supporting Nixon in the primary.

"Sometimes you need people to be angry, mad and scared to vote."

Noncitizens, whether legal or not, don't have a direct say on the issue because they are not allowed to vote.

Rice University sociologist Stephen Klineberg, who has surveyed the Houston populace for about 20 years, says immigration has become a symbol of a broader sense of America "losing control."

"It's the kind of thing that can resonate in an argument for security," he said.

He said many Texan residents and businesses depend on the low-wage work of immigrants for construction, yard work, restaurant service and child care.

"Anglos are in the midst of watching a demographic change occur. The future is a non-Anglo future. It's not surprising that immigration has become a symbol," Klineberg said. "The issue is much more symbolic than it is real. It isn't clear what the state can do, in terms of controlling borders."


Government responsibility
The candidates in the District 7 GOP primary say the problem certainly is real, but they vary in their solutions and approaches.

"It's a federal government responsibility. But it's a Texas problem," Patrick said. "And we can't solve the problem with just Anglo Republicans."

Patrick has traveled to the border to witness the problem firsthand and says he has talked to several Hispanic Republicans to get their assessments on how to handle the issue.

It's time for Texans to protect Texas borders, he said, and to use taxpayer money to do so instead of "providing services to those that entered this state illegally."

The immigration discussion isn't limited to Texas politics.

In November 2004, Arizona passed Proposition 200, which denies public benefits to people who cannot prove their citizenship.

Nixon has introduced several immigration-related bills in the House that died in the Senate.

One measure would have required that voters present driver's licenses at the polls and that licenses list citizenship.

Nixon also authored a bill designed to prevent fraudulent marriages as a route to citizenship.

It would have added marriage licenses to the documents kept by the Bureau of Vital Statistics, to keep people from obtaining multiple licenses.

"We're not doing our job policing our documents," he said. "The integrity of the federal system is presumed upon accurate documentation of state records."

Hamric supports Gov. Rick Perry's "Operation Linebacker," which lets local law enforcement provide greater support to U.S. border officers.

"That's an appropriate role of state government. We care about the problem, but we can't always solve it," she said, citing the need for more federal Homeland Security money to flow Texas' way.

"Education is a huge problem and one of the most important issues in Texas. Some parents are illegal, not all of the children are. Many of them are born in America. They are citizens, and it's our duty to educate them."


'Fear of the foreigner'
In an editorial board meeting with the Houston Chronicle, Ellis differed with that rationale.

"They come here to get an education, they don't speak the language. And we lose federal funding because drop-out rates increase," he said. "All they really want to do is find a job and drop out."

Klineberg says the topic of immigration is about insecurity more than anything else.

"A lot of this is code words. It's a little racist," Klineberg said. "These are not Anglos coming in. What is unique about this new immigration is it's not European. It's fear of the foreigner, and that hasn't dissipated."

The 2001 terrorist attacks sharpened the conversation by raising fear that terrorists could enter the country through poorly secured borders.

kristen.mack@chron.com