Thread: UT: Mexican native wants stricter immigration laws

Mexican native wants stricter immigration laws

Jan. 26, 2011
By Elizabeth Stuart
Deseret News
OREM, UT

It's not hard to tell Arturo Morales-LLan is proud to be an American: the evidence is plastered all over the walls of his Orem home. In a over-sized portrait hanging above the stairs, his four children, dressed in red, white and blue, stand in front of an American flag. His shelves are full of books about the Constitution. His desk is cluttered with Americana paraphernalia.

"I take my citizenship very seriously," said Morales-LLan in a rolling Spanish accent. That's why — despite his own Mexican ancestry — he has stepped up to publicly condemn illegal immigration and lend his support to Rep. Stephen Sandstrom in the quest to outfit Utah with an Arizona-style law. In collaboration with about 25 other immigrants, he recently started the lobbyist group Legal Immigrants for Immigration Law Enforcement.

In some ways, Morales-LLan is an illustration of a national trend. Hispanics are becoming increasingly divided over the issues surrounding illegal immigration, according to a recent report by the Pew Hispanic Center. In a 2007 survey, 50 percent of Hispanics said the growing number of undocumented immigrants had a positive effect on the community. In 2010, only 29 percent said the same thing.

"This issue is just as heated for Latinos as it is for the rest of the population," said Tony Yapias, director of Proyecto Latino de Utah.

Perhaps even more so.

The majority of the estimated 110,000 illegal immigrants in Utah live in mixed-status families, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, so for many Hispanics, the issue hits close to home. Both Morales-LLan and Yapias, who stand on opposite sides of the immigration issue, have been harassed, mocked and physically threatened over their views.

"If we talk about families, we [Latinos] are united," said Armando Solorzano, an associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of Utah. "If we talk about language, we are united. If we talk about culture — oh my goodness — we are united. But if we talk about immigration policy, we cannot agree."

Solorzano attributes the shift in public opinion to the media frenzy surrounding illegal immigration. According to mass media, he said, undocumented immigration is bad for the economy. Reports tend to focus on crimes committed by illegal aliens.

"There is a perception that undocumented immigrants are bringing down the status of other Latinos," he said. "They are giving Latinos a bad name."

On a 2010 Pew Hispanic survey of perceived causes of discrimination, immigration status topped the list. In past years, the language barrier was the biggest concern of Latinos.

Nearly every Hispanic has a story. While doing yard work at his Orem home, Morales-LLan was once mistaken for "the help," he said. Melodia Gutierrez, a University of Utah student whose parents came to the United States from Mexico legally, said she's endured cat calls from strangers who suspect she may be illegal. Last summer, while taking a walk in downtown Salt Lake City, a woman stopped her and demanded to see her papers. Upon second glance, the woman rephrased. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "By the way you are dressed, I am sure you are legal. But I wonder about your parents."

Views on immigration as also influenced by just how Americanized a Latino has become, he said. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, English-dominant Latinos are more likely to support deportation than those who primarily speak Spanish. Furthermore, nearly four-in-ten English-speaking Latinos support punitive laws like Sandstrom's.

"If you have assimilated into American culture, you buy into American values and you think American laws are fair," he said. "If you haven't, it's only natural to question. The economy depends on illegal immigrants, why wouldn't the country want their contributions?"

On a broad scale, though, Morales-LLan remains a minority. Eighty six percent of all Latinos support providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants if they pass a background check, pay a fine and have a job, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. That's not a solution Morales-LLan can live with.

It's not that he doesn't understand the plight of the immigrant.

Morales-LLan was born and raised in a tiny two-bedroom apartment in Mexico City. More often than not, breakfast was "an inch of coffee mixed with milk," he said. "We were lucky if we had bread." With his father out of the picture, Morales-LLan started working to support his three siblings at 7-years-old. He polished shoes and bagged groceries. Some days, rich neighbors would pay him to stand in line to purchase tortillas for them. When he got a little older, he got a job as a mason and worked his way up to become a cost estimator.

"I know what it's like to be desperate," he said.

He often dreamed of coming to the United States, sitting in front of his family's old, battered television, stomach empty, limbs exhausted from a hard day's work. "I thought about America like you think about Disneyland," he said. "It was this great magic kingdom."

He also knows what it's like to live in a country whose government is rife with corruption and whose people have little respect for laws, he said. As a high school student, Morales-LLan himself bribed his way to a diploma.

"Such things were very common," he said.

It's because of these experiences, Morales-LLan said, that he cannot stomach the idea of illegal immigration. That would be the same as inviting corruption to creep over the border and eat away at all that makes the United States great, he says.

He still gets tears in his eyes when he thinks about the day he became an American. Getting to that point was a long, hard journey. First, he had to retake all of his high school classes at a private school. Then, with the help of a sponsor, he came to Utah, learned English and applied to college. He got a green card when he met and married a blonde from Salt Lake City, but it would be years before he was granted the opportunity for citizenship.

"When I took that oath [to become a citizen], I swore I would defend the constitution and the laws of the United States of America," he said from the pulpit at a recent rally promoting local enforcement of federal immigration laws. His words brought jeers from the other Latinos in attendance, who glared at him from behind signs that said things like "Who would Jesus Deport?", but he pressed on, unfazed. "I meant what I said."

Immigrants who slip over the border unnoticed and get jobs using false identities are "making a mockery of American laws," he said.

"There is no love for America in illegal immigration," he said. "There is no sense of patriotism. There is no sense of duty. There are only broken laws."

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7001 ... .html?pg=1

"I take my citizenship very seriously," said Morales-LLan in a rolling Spanish accent. That's why — despite his own Mexican ancestry — he has stepped up to publicly condemn illegal immigration and lend his support to Rep. Stephen Sandstrom in the quest to outfit Utah with an Arizona-style law. In collaboration with about 25 other immigrants, he recently started the lobbyist group Legal Immigrants for Immigration Law Enforcement.

THANK YOU!

Bravo Arturo!! Now HE is a true immigrant, the kind we want here.

He deserves to be on a National Media report ASAP!

welcome to america and
CONGRATULATIONS on becoming an american citizen and NOT being afraid to show your AMERICAN PRIDE AND SPIRIT

Thank you for coming to our country in right manner and standing up for our laws very much apreichated. There's a very big difference between this guy and other immagrents he wants to be apart and contribute to our culture and society the others are just looking for a free ride

Most Mexican-Americans feel the same way and most LEGAL immigrants do as well. What makes him stand out from the rest is the fact that by coming out in support of legal immigration, he is putting himself at risk of retaliation from the illegal population who would see him as a traitor to their cause.

In fact, the man has balls of steel to do what he's doing. Lots of legal immigrants abhor illegal immigration because they know the consequences and the costs associated with having millions of non-qualified, non-screened, false immigrants in the country, giving Mexico and other countries a bad reputation.

The media should separate immigration/immigrants from ILLEGAL immigration/invaders instead of bundling them all up as the SAME issue.

That makes mainstream media either stupid and willfully deceptive or just ignorant.

Illegal immigrants keep referring to themselves as 'immigrants' in order to gain sympathy and to strengthen their cause. 90% of news articles FAIL to make the distinction between LEGAL immigrants and ILLEGAL ones.

That's equivalent to saying that an honest citizen is the same as a dishonest one. That a robber is the same is a law-abiding citizen. That a licensed person is the same as non-licensed one, that right is the same as wrong and illegal is the same as legal, etc.

Without making the distinction, they rape the concept of U.S. immigration and contribute to the problem.