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Latinos in poll say life's difficult Legal, illegal seen as same in U.S.
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More from County NewsNearly two-thirds of the nation's Latinos say the battle over illegal immigration has made life more difficult for all Latinos, including those here legally, according to a national survey released Thursday.
About 64 percent of those surveyed by the Pew Hispanic Center said failed immigration-reform efforts in Congress have affected far more people than the estimated 12 million who have crossed the border illegally.
About 53 percent said they had experienced at least one negative impact from a list that included not finding work, not finding housing, more demands to prove immigration status, reluctance to use government services and deciding not to travel out of the country.
"The biggest threat is that by the color of our skin and our last name, we're all put in the same boat," said David Rodriguez of Camarillo, state deputy director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "We're tainted by the illegal' brush. That's not fair."
The survey of 2,003 randomly selected Latino adults asked their opinions on deportation, work-site raids and other issues related to illegal immigration. It was released by the Pew nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C., about a week after U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials reported its fugitive operations teams arrested about 30,408 people over a year ending in September. That's close to double the previous year's total of 15,462 arrests.
'Risk of being detained'
Aimed at people with outstanding deportation orders, fugitive operations are just one aspect of ramped-up ICE efforts that led to the deportation of 261,057 people from the nation in the last fiscal year, including 13,441 from a seven-county region that includes Ventura County.
Not surprisingly, the Pew survey suggested far more Latinos oppose increased enforcement than non-Latinos. About 75 percent of Latinos disapproved of workplace raids. About 51 percent of non-Hispanics in a separate survey said they supported the raids, which have increased almost tenfold in six years.
More than half of the Latinos surveyed said they worry about deportation in regards to themselves, a family member or a friend.
"We do not conduct random sweeps," ICE officials said in a written response to the Pew survey. "However, anyone illegally in the country runs the risk of being detained and placed into removal proceedings if encountered by law enforcement."
Ray Balderas is a Latino born in Texas to parents who came to the country legally. The Santa Paula real estate agent doesn't feel vulnerable because of the illegal immigration fight. He supports workplace raids and other increased enforcement.
Reason for anxiety
What he resents is the tendency to assume all Latinos think one way and oppose enforcing immigration laws.
"If they're illegal, they should send them back," said Balderas, who thinks illegal immigration crowds jails, contributes to crime and otherwise burdens society. "There are a lot of Mexican-Americans born here who feel like I do."
The survey said about 53 percent of Latinos born in the United States think the immigration debate has made their lives more difficult, compared with about 72 percent of Latino immigrants born in another country who feel that way. U.S.-born Latinos are also more likely to support increased enforcement of immigration laws than foreign-born people.
The impact of the immigration debate and increased enforcement means that third- and fourth-generation Mexican-Americans are being asked by banks to prove their immigration status, said Rodriguez.
Businesses in downtown Oxnard are being hurt during the holiday season because people are so worried about deportation raids that they won't go shopping or venture out to any public place.
The reason for the anxiety in Latino communities is the surging population of illegal immigrants, said Mark Krikorian, referring to the Pew survey's estimate that a quarter of the nation's 47 million Hispanics are unauthorized.
"When we get tighter control of immigration policy and actually enforce it, you're not going to have this kind of anxiety," said Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., which supports increased enforcement. "There won't be an assumption that if you speak with an accent and are a Hispanic, you are an illegal alien."
The raids that often attract the most attention are the sweeps aimed at apprehending people who have ignored deportation orders. In the 12 months ending in September, fugitive operation teams arrested 2,667 people in the greater Los Angeles region, which includes Ventura County. That's higher than any other area in the nation, and an ICE spokeswoman predicted the number will increase next year.
'Should be more humane'
Of the people arrested, 576 had criminal records. The other 2,091 were almost evenly split between people with deportation orders and those classified as non-fugitives, meaning they are illegal immigrants who had not been issued deportation orders.
Alicia Flores, leader of the Hermandad Mexicana community group in Oxnard, said she believes the arrests are designed to instill fear and keep illegal immigrants from protesting.
Her organization and Hermandad groups in Huntington Park and Las Vegas are starting a home in Tijuana for women and their children to stay temporarily after being deported. Its grand opening is scheduled for Sunday.
"I believe it's OK for ICE to detain people who are criminals," Flores said, noting that she's caring for two teenagers whose mother was deported. "They should see the suffering they're causing from separating these families. They should be more humane."
Posted by desdave on December 14, 2007 at 5:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Adam, your plan to "solve" the problem sounds like it would be to do away with all border control. Your entire argument above relegates you to the category of fringe extremist, and therefore not to be taken seriously. What happened 2 hundred years ago has no bearing on today. Today we have laws, and they are being broken, and not enforced by our gov't. Breaking the law by coming here illegally is not justified by your view of ancient history. And now that there is some increased enforcement going on (probably too little too late), the argument seems to be "hey, no fair enforcing your laws". Hopefully the will of the majority of citizens will finally be heard and we start really enforcing our laws, and pass new ones to finally control the border.
Posted by dpennock on December 14, 2007 at 5:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The Mexicans illegally crossing our borders do not have more rights here than U.S. citizens. If these people had lived here prior to the Mexican-American War, they would have been allowed to stay. I believe that is spelled out in the treaty that ended the war.
Immigration in the past (such as through Ellis Island) was conducted in an orderly manner. People were checked for diseases and rejected or quarantined as was prudent. I believe the 1965 immigration laws allowed for 58,000 people to immigrate to the U.S. from each country around the world. That is a lot of people. Our country has become much more diverse since then. We are not an isolated, closed-off society.
Like you, I am of European and Native American (Cherokee) descent. And I believe that we should do what is best for our country. I don't think that means packing our country with poverty-stricken people. Check out the immigration policies of sparsely populated countries like Australia. They are very strict. They don't want you unless you are relatively young, healthy, and self-sufficient. In short, they want people who will be a plus for their country, not a burden. Illegal aliens are hurting legal residents here in the U.S. Instead of making excuses for lawbreakers, we should enforce the law.
Posted by NothingButTheTruth on December 14, 2007 at 6:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The real question is: "Are we going to have TWO immigration policies - one granting favor to Hispanics; the other requiring all other races to follow the rules?"
Posted by Face on December 14, 2007 at 7:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sorry Adam, your argument is flawed. The Spanish were no friend of the Indian, and by your logic, Mexicans have as little right to be here as Americans. With that, your heritage is moot unless you were full blown Indian. Therefor, using your logic, you are one of the "illegal racist non-Indians" and in fact belong to a class that raped Indian populations, forcibly taking Indian brides and destroying their native culture. Adam, your forefathers were Indian rapers and you should be held accountable by your own logic. You would be sentenced in your own court of Adam for these crimes. Fortunately, Americans know that you are not personally responsible for the attrocities of your forefathers and we welcome you here with the rest of us.
It must hurt Adam, to live in a country you so despise and with all of us who you blame the actions of our forefathers. You live in an "Illegal Nation" by your words, so if I were you and felt as you do, I would denounce my US citizenship and immigrate somewhere else, maybe to where my Spanish Conquistador Indian Rapists forefathers came from.
Posted by ironwoman on December 14, 2007 at 7:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Immigration Law....follow it.
Posted by spokenit on December 14, 2007 at 7:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Adam what happened in the past is just that. We can not change what the White Europeans did then. When i read about the history of the wars and the killings I never read about the part that says Mexico's Own leaders abandon Mexico and left the people to defend for themselves. I and FORGIVE me I do not remember the name of Mexican leader but he abandon Mexico during the war and was later exiled to Brazil. There is also an amount of 15 million dollars that the USA paid to Mexico for most of the land. It was orginally higher but was not accepted therefore the war. Now I may get bashed on here for my lack of history remembrance but I do Know that NO one talks about that. I dont think its as much as keeping the illegals out as the way they act, believe they deserve and take over run everything! They do have alot of the communities already, They live freely. Talk about not finding jobs or a place to live? I think there is alot of people in that same boat. Talking about boats? Maybe the Irish shouls start causing a stir because werent they on the lower deck of the TITANIC? and they were treated far worse then most people. Everyone who lives here as a complaint as to how or what happen to their ancestors long ago. Hispanics need to live happily but not run all over everyone to get what they want.. which is everything!
Posted by caffeinefree on December 14, 2007 at 7:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank goodness for the Mexican race. Thank you for being here and making our world a more diverse and interesting place to live. Thank you for your traditions and for sharing your culture. May the Lord our God bless you so that your race thrives and overcomes the prejudice the world has cast down on to you. May everyday be a reminder that this life is temporary and that what you do in this life will echo in eternity. Peace be with you all forever and ever.
Posted by surfmedic91 on December 14, 2007 at 8:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have to aggree with the comments regarding Adam's post. His statements are irrelevant to 2007. "Illegal" is always the key word. I don't care if you're from Ireland, England, China, Botswana, or Iraq. If you are not here legally, you need to be found, pay the consequences, and sent back to your country after you do.
If you have a complaint about the country and how it's run, do something about it. If you're not willing to take actions on your words, then be quiet and continue to let the media dictate your decisions in life.
Posted by JohnGC on December 14, 2007 at 9:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
caffeinefree: And who or what is "goodness"? Can we get him or it to renege on the gift he/it bestowed? May be time for you to wake up and smell the coffee!
Posted by shaver_one on December 14, 2007 at 10:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Adam...
Once again you spew words of hate by calling everyone NOT hispanic, a racist.
You forget that the Mexicans invaded California and the rest of the US Southwest and stole land from the Chumash, Apache, Arapaho, Puma, Navajo, Comanche, and the rest of the indeginous people who have lived here far longer than you or your 7-generational family.
I, too, am of mixed heritage. I am a Native-Born Californian. My European (German) side came across the Atlantic in the mid-1600s. This was BEFORE America became a country. Since America didn't exist then, entry cannot be called "illegal". There were no laws detailing how to enter. With no laws in force, it's not illegal...it's called settlement and exploration.
The Native side of my family (Cherokee) has been occupying this land (actually the Southeast US) for over 10,000 years. We welcomed our foreign bretheran...at first.
But, you are correct in one aspect. The decendants of those European settlers did force their way onto the Native American way of life.
So, I have a compromise for you.
If you're willing to go back to Mexico, and live your life out there, I'll go back to my ancestral home of North Carolina. I'll have to walk ten miles a day to get to work, in ten feet of snow, uphill...both ways...but I'm willing.
Are you?
You were born here. You don't have to worry about ICE, or deportation. Accusing every non-hispanic of racism is, in my opinion, racist. Are you admitting to being a racial bigot? That's how you sound.
Posted by FedUp on December 14, 2007 at 11:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
thanks for setting your cause back a few hundred steps Adam. haha
Posted by keepermel on December 14, 2007 at 11:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sounds to me like people who are affraid to go out and about because they can get arrested have created their own enviornment of fear. They seem to be aware that they have broken a law that can get them into trouble. I will state that I do not like people who break the law and get away with it. That is not a racist statement, because that also includeds the Rich and famous who get away with things because of who they are. To take someones words about dislike for a group of law breakers and to percieve it as hate for a race of people is out of line. The lines between right and wrong have blurred with accusations used as excuses. Laws need to be inforced and people who break those laws held accountable.
Posted by wdwinder1 on December 14, 2007 at 12:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
They should be afraid of getting caught. Thats the whole point of a law and punishment as a deterrent. If there were no consequences for breaking the law, why bother.
Actually, the mere fact that this story is about the Hispanics having trouble and not all immigrants in general because of illegal immigrants of all nationalities is racist in itself.
Posted by daze805 on December 14, 2007 at 12:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I know many "legal" Latinos, Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans and others who have been mistreated and been stereotyped as illegal. Don't look at someone's skin, or appearance and make judgements about them. To pretend the problem is not racially motivated is a shame.
If those legitimate concerns about national security could be seperated from racist opinions and stereotypes we might be able to work towards a solution.
Posted by Terly on December 14, 2007 at 1:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I find that the people that scream racism the loudest are the most racist.
Posted by SummerSun on December 14, 2007 at 2:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I say protest in your own Country, if you don't like America, then go home. I lost a sister on 9/11, and if we had tighter security at our borders, these terrorist would have never got into our Country in the first place. The borders need to be tightened to the north and the south.
Posted by FedUp on December 14, 2007 at 2:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I know a few legal latino's who have been discriminated against as well. and they are all pissed off because of the illegals who are giving the legals a bad name. they say the same thing I do. send all the illegals home.
Posted by Missing_Oxnard on December 14, 2007 at 2:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I am a US Citizen living illegally in Mexico. Let me tell you, because of US foreign policy, living in a foreign country is much, much, much tougher than it should be. The politics that the US enforces against all other countries is reciprocated if not more, than equally against US citizens. It has taken me a year to get a visa legally and I've lost hundreds upon hundreds of US dollars due to the ridiculous bureaucracy implemented against us.
This is racism in response to racism. It's a disgusting vicious cycle that can only be stopped by those who started it.
Posted by KeyLo on December 14, 2007 at 3:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
As a fourth generation American, of hispanic decent. My language is English. I walk into a store, someone from Mexico is behind the counter, automaticlly I'm spoken to in spanish.I look for a place to live, single father with four children, Next door in a two bedroom apt., five families are sharing the premises, each have two children or more. You go to the walfare and see a woman with four children. her husband picks her up in a brand new SUV. I go to work,eighty percent are from mexico.
If you ask me if I have a problem with illegals,you darn right I do.The ones who are here legally, they are okay. send all the others back no matter what it takes.And if you think I'm racist, you should here my daddy.
Posted by FedUp on December 14, 2007 at 3:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"I walk into a store, someone from Mexico is behind the counter, automaticlly I'm spoken to in spanish"
this cracks me up. I was in the SB Police Station today, and there were like ten hispanics in line, waiting to pay fines for various things. The woman working the counter was hispanic looking. two of the people she was attempting to help, started speaking to her in spanish immediately. both times she had to tell them she did not speak spanish, and they had to wait till someone who spoke spanish was available. when she helped me, we had a nice laugh about it. she said she is so sick and tired of everyone speaking spanish to her automatically. I just laughed.
Posted by minority_report on December 14, 2007 at 4:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Seems that most of the arguments here are simply attacks on Adam.Roland’s original post. While I can’t say I agree with most of Adam’s statements. I do agree in general that we need to look back on our history to see if we can find some truth’s about today’s immigrant dilemma. We now live in a very different country than what existed when our founding fathers were here. Therefore, I heartily disagree with desdave who says: “What happened 2 hundred years ago has no bearing on today.” If that were really true, then our Constitution is a worthless piece of paper as well as all our other hard fought accomplishments. But we also have to look at our shortcomings, not just our successes. We can’t view history selectively and say it never happened or as spokenit says “what happened in the past is just that.” Attitudes like that are attempts to whitewash what was done in this country’s name to create a nation of promise. So whereas Adam goes too far in calling all Europeans “real-estate thieves” or occupiers, neither would I also try to characterize Adam’s ancestry as being from “Conquistador Indian Rapists forefathers.” Clearly, when people on both sides of the issue are taking extreme positions, this leaves little room for rational debate.
Now here’s my real point of discussion: I believe that most everyone, Mexican’s included, really oppose “illegal immigration”. What most people want is better-managed legal immigration. That said, would most of those here posting against illegal immigration be in favor of doubling, maybe even tripling the amount of legal immigrants from Mexico to support the labor demand here in the States? There is an obvious need for many low-wage workers in this country, especially to perform jobs others do not want to do. So shouldn’t we try to accommodate those demands and help eliminate the illegal border crossings by increasing the quotas for legal workers from Mexico? Then if we could get our government to enforce labor laws with employers to use only the legal immigrant workers, this could force the undocumented laborers to leave and find another legal way back into the system (whether that may mean returning to Mexico or not). Using increased quotas of Mexican immigrants could be less costly than using ICE to apprehend and return undocumented workers and will help meet employers labor demand at the same time. Could this be at least one piece of the solution?
Posted by desdave on December 14, 2007 at 8 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Bob, as already stated, as long as the unemployment rate isn't 0% then there is no labor shortage. What we have instead is low skilled or manual labor jobs being taken over by immigrants (many illegal) willing to work for lower wages. It's a real eye opener when I travel to parts of the country without big hispanic populations to see high school kids working the fast food places, and non-hispanics working the construction and manual labor jobs. In years past those jobs all got done without the millions of illegals here now. Somehow our fields even got the work done.
Posted by Brittanicus on December 14, 2007 at 8:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Texas Senator Hutchinson's Amendment to stop construction of border fence!
After the Secure Fence Act of 2006 was signed into law by President Bush in October 2006, millions of Americans had a right to expect a double-layer fence would be built along our border with Mexico," Elliott said.
"Now, if the Senator Kay Baily Hutchison amendment gets signed into law that fence is never going to be built," he said.
Elliott said the language of the amendment from Hutchison (S. Amdt. 2466) specifically would exempt the Department of Homeland Security from having to build any fence at all.
The Hutchison amendment reads, in part, " … nothing in this paragraph shall require the Secretary of Homeland Security to install fencing, physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors in a particular location along an international border of the United States, if the Secretary determines that the use or placement of such resources is not the most appropriate means to achieve and maintain operational control over the international border at such location."
Demand Sen. Hutchinson rescind this Amendment, before its too late! She must be pandering to the globalist, open-border, free market agenda. Already taxpayers are supporting millions of illegal foreign nationals.
numbersusa for free faxing.
TELL THE WORLD AROUND YOU!
Posted by spokenit on December 15, 2007 at 9:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
whitewash mean something? The past is the past. A war was fought a war was lost. Not my doing. If and when the War in Irag,etc.. is over should the USA be responsible to all of their people? Let them come here freely, take over or homes,schools, stores, jails, hospitals, fields etc... WHY? There is a difference in people (no matter what race) that are born here, there is pride, respect, honor for the USA. from those who come here to drop off their offspring, diapers and jwalk across the streets,to stand in our lines for free homes, food stamps, education etc.. all because their great home MEXICO doesnt or wont provide it for them. Why do they fight for their own countrys name when their own country wont even provide for them? They come because it it the land of the FREE and the brave. I guess the word FREE is the only english they can read. Dont any of you question my race, color etc... I am all mixed up in blood line so I really dont know where I will go when you people tell me to go back to where ever my ancestors came from. Have a great day I am going xmas shopping now. Oh what will I see out there?
Posted by Missing_Oxnard on December 15, 2007 at 10:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There's a huge flaw in most of these arguments......
every hispanic person in the US is NOT Mexican.
Posted by spokenit on December 15, 2007 at 4:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Missing,,, You are right. Like all whites are not Europeans...
Posted by ironwoman on December 15, 2007 at 4:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Abide by the laws. Who cares about race.
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