Thread: TX: Illegal immigration faces growing Tarrant opposition

Posted on Mon, Apr. 23, 2007
Illegal immigration faces growing Tarrant opposition



By PATRICK McGEE
A small group of residents is forming an anti-illegal immigration group in Tarrant County. The group will be a chapter of Citizens for Immigration Reform, a four-year-old Dallas-based group that wants tighter controls on immigration.
Anti-illegal immigration groups have sprouted in Texas in the past two years or so as immigration has emerged as one of the country's top issues. They've made their voices heard at the local, state and federal level, but an expert believes that the groups might not have staying power.

The groups are trying to gain more visibility for their cause to counter the work of pro-immigrant groups, which drew hundreds of thousands of demonstrators last year to marches in major American cities, including Dallas.

The Pew Hispanic Center says there are nearly 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.

The Department of Homeland Security estimates that 54,000 illegal immigrants have entered Texas every year since 2000, the greatest influx into any state. The agency said Texas had nearly 1.4 million illegal immigrants by early 2005.

Legal immigration in the U.S. increased 17 percent from 2004 to 2005, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a New York-based think tank. More than 1.1 million people were granted legal permanent residence in 2005, according to the institute.

The local group's hopes ...

Joel Downs, a retired engineer from Hurst, said CFIR-Fort Worth is starting with a focus on immigration bills in the Legislature.

"There are a lot of things that Texas can do that will tighten up a lot of the rules ... that make it so attractive to illegal immigrants," said Downs, chairman of the committee to start the new group.

He said the Tarrant County group has only about nine people, but Jean Towell, president of CFIR in Dallas, said her group started with seven members and now has more than 200.

"We just saw that illegal immigration was causing a lot of harm financially and culturally and the whole bit," Towell said. "It was an issue that bothered us."

She said she welcomes the new group as a complement to hers and as a way to include people in Tarrant County who cannot drive to Dallas.

"We're all on the same page. We're all very compatible," Towell said, "and I expect them to be a force in Fort Worth in getting the word out."

Towell has traveled to Austin several times to lobby for anti-illegal immigration bills, and Downs accompanied her on her most recent trip.

Noel Long, a resident of The Colony in Denton County and a member of the Tarrant County group, said he wants the group to push for more enforcement of immigration laws because authorities have not done nearly enough.

"It's like trying to feed a hungry dog with just a morsel or two, and we're going to bite back," he said.

Such passion has fueled the growth of many anti-illegal immigration groups.

In Farmers Branch, a political action committee has raised more than $2,000 to back the City Council in a May 12 referendum on an ordinance banning illegal immigrants from renting apartments in the city.

When a congressional committee held a hearing in Plano last year, anti-illegal immigration activists packed the room and booed when an advocate for immigrant rights testified.

A year before that, an Arlington man organized a Texas group of Minutemen to patrol the border with Mexico in an effort to slow illegal immigration.

... and chances of survival

Such efforts have gained recruits, but Donald Jackson, director of Texas Christian University's Center for Civic Literacy, said those groups might not outlast their foes.

"There is very often an extinction effect. The passion has to be fed by some kind of continuing input to make it permanent," Jackson said.

Pro-immigrant groups have a much better chance of surviving, he said. Many of their members are illegal immigrants or have relatives who are illegal immigrants.

The stakes of the immigration debate are much higher for them, so they have more of an incentive to keep on top of the issue, Jackson said.

CITIZENS FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

To reach Citizens for Immigration Reform-Fort Worth, e-mail Joel Downs at CFIRfortworth@hotmail.com or call 682-429-7432.

http://www.star-telegram.com/189/story/78013.html

Such efforts have gained recruits, but Donald Jackson, director of Texas Christian University's Center for Civic Literacy, said those groups might not outlast their foes.

"There is very often an extinction effect. The passion has to be fed by some kind of continuing input to make it permanent," Jackson said.

Pro-immigrant groups have a much better chance of surviving, he said. Many of their members are illegal immigrants or have relatives who are illegal immigrants.

The stakes of the immigration debate are much higher for them, so they have more of an incentive to keep on top of the issue, Jackson said.

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