www.northjersey.com

Latinos tackle a taboo

Monday, November 21, 2005

By MIGUEL PEREZ
STAFF WRITER

They contend that illegal immigrants drive down wages, avoid paying taxes and benefit from education and health care services that should go only to Americans.

They insist the Mexican border should be closed, that they're tired of the problems caused by illegal immigration.

The complaints are familiar, but those complaining are not.

A new wave of Americans are calling for stricter restrictions on immigration: Latino Americans.

In North Jersey's Hispanic neighborhoods, where speaking against illegal immigration was once considered taboo, some Latinos are now openly critical of violators.

"It's illegal, and that word, 'illegal,' says it all," said Clara Nibot, president of the Bergen County Hispanic Republican Organization.

Nibot came here as a legal immigrant from Cuba. It bothers her that a portion of the property taxes she pays for her Bergenfield home are being spent on the public education of illegals, who she said bring "gangs, criminals, corruption and many people who are failures in their own country." Some Latin American countries purposely dump their "bad elements" on the United States, she said.

"They don't contribute to the system, and the rest of us have to carry their load," Nibot said.


Illegal immigrants take jobs from Americans, receive benefits to which they shouldn't be entitled, overcrowd housing and schools and pose a threat to homeland security, said Carmen Morales, who was born in Puerto Rico.

"It's an invasion," said Morales, who lives in Middlesex County. "There is a tsunami of people coming over the Mexican border. And I understand, of course, that everybody wants to have a better life. But there has to be some control over who comes here."

A significant number of Latinos disapprove of granting health care, driver's licenses and other benefits to illegal immigrants, according to a recent national survey. Conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, the survey found that while 68 percent of Latinos said illegal immigrants help the economy by working low-wage jobs, 23 percent said they hurt the economy by driving wages down.

Latinos who were born in the United States were more likely to be critical than those who came here as immigrants, the Pew study found.

Other studies have reached different conclusions - usually bolstering the view held by the group that conducts it. Some indicate that illegal immigration undermines the economy and strains social services, but others state that illegal immigrants pay more in taxes and consumer spending than they take.

One thing is certain: Latinos seem more willing these days to debate the issue openly.

Morales, of the Colonia section of Woodbridge, contended that illegal immigrants refuse to learn English or assimilate into American society.

"They are trying to take away our culture and our language and replace it with the Spanish language," she said. "It's almost like everything they do is against this country."

Morales is the "Hispanic spokeswoman" for the United Patriots of America, a New Jersey group seeking strict immigration policies. She was selected for the job, she said, because she's a Latina and the group has been accused of racism and of advocating white supremacy.

"They figured that I could explain things and not look like a racist," Morales said.

Spirited discussions

When Latinos speak against illegal immigration in Hispanic neighborhoods, heated encounters ensue.

Recently, Alberto Rodriguez opened a discussion at his Hair Guild salon in West New York with a statement no one wanted to rebut - in a shop where some customers probably are illegal.

"The ones who are already here, I would give them the papers that make them legal," Rodriguez said.

But he raised some eyebrows as he went on: "And I would shut down the border and stop others from coming in the future, unless they do it in a legal and orderly manner."

Some of his own employees saw things differently.

"It's very easy to talk that way when you are already on this side of the border," said Nelly Vera, from Ecuador. "I believe that as long as there is room and jobs in this country, they should allow people to keep coming. I understand that there are parts that are already saturated with immigrants, but this country is very big and very rich. Besides, these workers are needed here."

Customer Rene Morales objected to that view.

"Some of them are not grateful to the country that has given them every opportunity," he said. "They think they deserve everything for free, without working for it, and they don't want to pay taxes."

Betsy Chavez, 28, of Union City, who was born in New Jersey of Colombian parents, believes that "enough is enough."

"We have to find a way to admit immigrants in an orderly way, because we don't know who is coming into the country," Chavez said. "Many of them may be good, hardworking people looking for a better life. But some may also be criminals."

Some Latinos who immigrated legally say that if they waited their turn to get permission to reside in the United States, it's only fair that others do the same.

"It's like when you walk into someone's home, you have to have permission to enter, right?" said Guido Broche, the Cuban owner of the Centro Latino Restaurant in West New York. "But these people come into this country and immediately they act as if this was their home."

Affluent residents are moving out of his area, replaced by "an invasion" of poor illegal immigrants, Broche said. "The businesses around here are being affected, including mine," he said.

Broche admits that he has employed illegal immigrants, but he claims they "want to work little and make a lot."

Robert Rosado, born in Puerto Rico, lives in a Union City neighborhood where illegal immigrants are likely to be in the majority. He sympathizes with their struggles, but he believes they have a negative effect on the overall standard of living.

"In this area, if you are a Latino you can't get a job for more than $7.50 [an hour] and that's because of them," Rosado said.

'Grateful' to be here

Miguel Cruz, 32, of Newark, was 9 years old when his mother brought him legally from Peru. He recently attended a United Patriots meeting in Bogota, where he vowed to get more involved in efforts to stop illegal immigration.

Cruz said he has to be tactful when he talks to other Latinos about illegal immigration: Once they know where he stands, he said, they avoid debating him.

"We are poles apart," he said. "They don't want to talk about the problem, because often they are part of it."

When people remind him that he is also an immigrant, Cruz replies: "I'm a grateful person and I acknowledge that this country has given me everything. I don't owe anything to Peru and Peru doesn't owe me anything. I was raised and educated here. I'm an American with Peruvian roots."

Outside the Motor Vehicle Commission office in North Bergen, New Jersey-born Elvis Lopez wore a T-shirt that made a statement: "I am the American Dream."

But he gets annoyed by the thought that other U.S.-born Latinos are turning against illegal immigrants.

"They are spoiled. They only care about themselves," said Lopez, 18, whose parents came to America as illegal immigrants from Ecuador. "They don't recognize what their parents went through to make a better life for them here. I appreciate what my parents did for me."

'A class issue'

Are the differences over the issue part of a natural process of assimilation, where second- and third-generation Latinos begin to think more like other Americans, including those who would shut down the borders? Or is the illegal immigration problem so great that even Latinos are fed up with it?

"I think it has a lot to do with the assimilation issue," said Dr. David T. Abalos, a sociology professor at Seton Hall University and the author of several books about Latino immigrants. "It's a culture thing and a language thing, but it's also a class issue.

"When people feel that they that they are beginning to get ahead, into the middle class, they see the recently arrived in terms of low wages and poverty issues and they just don't want to identify with them. And I think that's just the impact of capitalism. It divides us."

Abalos said the differences between young U.S.-born and foreign-born Latinos can be seen in high school cafeterias, where "the Latinos who are second- and third-generation and are very assimilated will not sit or even talk with the Latinos who are recently arrived and only speak Spanish."

The lack of communication between the two groups leads to less sensitivity for each other's circumstances, he said.

Yet, some Latinos say their compassion has limitations.

"I feel bad for these people," Nibot said, "but I have to worry about the bad elements that may disrupt our way of life."

E-mail: perez@northjersey.com

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BOON OR BURDEN?

Among U.S.-born Latinos:


55% said illegal immigrants help the economy; 34% said they hurt the economy.


65% said illegals strengthen the U.S. through hard work and skills.


8% said they are a burden because they take jobs, housing and health care.


60% approve laws denying driver's licenses for illegals.

Among foreign-born Latinos:


76% said illegal immigrants help the economy, 15% said they hurt it.


89% said illegals strengthen the U.S. through hard work and skills.


5% say they are a burden because they take jobs, housing and health care.


29% approve laws denying driver's licenses for illegals.

Among respondents in Mexico City:


More than 40% said they would come to live in the U.S. if they had the means and opportunity.


21% said they would do so illegally.


More than 50% percent said they would come to the U.S. through a temporary workers program.


Among college graduates, 35 percent said they would come to the United States - 13% of whom said they would do it illegally.

Source: The Pew Hispanic Center (summer 2005)

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Among Latinos in the U.S.


68% said illegal immigrants help the economy by working low-wage jobs.


23% said they hurt the economy by driving wages down.


80% said illegals strengthen the U.S. through hard work and skills.


14% said they are a burden because they take jobs, housing and health care.


41% approve laws denying driver's licenses for illegals.


43% believe the number of legal immigrants from Latin America should stay the same; 13% believe the number should be reduced; 31% believe it should be increased.


56% favor a temporary workers program allowing illegals to stay and work in the U.S. for several years before they must return to their homeland.


84% favor a path for these workers to become legal permanent residents and eventually U.S. citizens.

Source: The Pew Hispanic Center (summer 2005)