Thread: Latina activist & MMP vol. has minority view on immigrat

Link

Latina activist has minority view on immigration
VOLUNTEER: She blames undocumented residents for causing the state's economic woes
April 14, 2005
By SHARON McNARY / The Press-Enterprise

A prominent Latina joined the Minuteman Project of volunteer border watchers, a movement that immigrant-rights activists have repeatedly condemned as racist.

She is Lupe Moreno, a self-described Mexican immigrant-smuggler's daughter and first-generation U.S. citizen who has built her Orange County Republican Party political resume on her opposition to illegal immigration.

Moreno, 47, of Santa Ana, took her place alongside a group of Minutemen volunteers to watch the border near Palominas, Ariz., early this month. It was windy, dusty and cold, but she said it was important for her to sit in a lawn chair 10 feet from a hole in the wire border fence, watching for illegal entrants.

"I never got to see one close up," said Moreno, who works as an office specialist for Orange County. "I see more where I work."

Moreno, who favors deporting and withholding government services from undocumented residents, holds views that are at odds with most California Latinos and Inland area residents. Most consider the economy, jobs, gas prices and education to be more important issues than illegal immigration, according to a statewide survey of the Public Policy Institute of California.

"The Latinos have very different attitudes toward undocumented immigrants than other groups in the state," said Mark Baldassare, director of research, in a phone interview. "Generally they are much more sympathetic to the plight and experiences of undocumented immigrants."

To Moreno, illegal immigration is the underlying cause of Californians' economic distress and problems in schools.

"I think people are not paying attention," she said. "We're just being overwhelmed."

'Look at the Contributions'

Rep. Joe Baca Sr., D-Rialto, scoffs at Moreno's stance, saying, "There is always people who will agree with Lupe. That's because they lack the understanding and education. They should get beyond those barriers and begin to look at the contributions that immigrants make to this country," Baca said.

He said undocumented immigrants provide labor for undesirable jobs, and contribute billions of dollars into the Social Security system which they might never collect.

Minuteman Project co-founder James Gilchrist has said the citizen patrol is not anti-Latino, anti-Mexican or even anti-immigrant. It opposes illegal immigration across unprotected U.S. borders.

However, the Minuteman project had attracted few non-whites, he said. Just three of 22 self-described Mexican-Americans who had signed up to patrol the border showed up April 1.

"That's a serious problem," Gilchrist said. "If it's only your American Europeans, 99 percent American Europeans, that says that, 'Gee, that means that all the minorities who make up about half the population in this country don't give a damn,' and that's going to create a massive chasm."

Moreno, who recently finished a term as secretary of the Orange County Republican Party and is president of Latino Americans for Immigration Reform, said she believes that many Latinos agree with her but do not speak openly or join the Minutemen. "We are in more danger of being hurt than the rest of the Minutemen."

Moreno denounced American companies that reach out to Latino consumers when they create day-labor centers at which many would-be workers are undocumented, or banks that let customers open bank accounts using identification cards issued by the Mexican consulate.

"I'm saying, OK, reach out to my community. But why are you helping illegal aliens?"

'Deport Them'

Like many of the Minuteman participants, Moreno sees undocumented immigrants as a financial drain on American taxpayers.

"These people start coming into our communities, they live among us, and they steal our children's educations and our children's jobs and our jobs," Moreno said. "Deport them, each and every one of them."

Fontana resident Lollie Puentes, a mediator and medical interpreter, said Moreno's views differ from her Latino friends.

"We all agree that if this Minuteman thing gets any more hyped up, they're going to wash away what's left of the American dream," Puentes said. "If you take away all the undocumented people, you're not going to have anybody to work for you. The Caucasian people won't have their nannies and baby sitters, they won't have people in the markets or the car washes," Puentes said.

Puentes said the president and Congress should enact laws enabling workers to safely come into the United States to work, because without such laws migrants will thwart strict border controls and make illegal and risky desert and mountain crossings.

"I don't believe that undocumented need to be kept from coming into this country because they run the underground economy that runs this country," Puentes said.

most Latinos are against illegal immigration.Q:what do you call 2 man migrant basketball?A:Juan on Juan.