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"I'm not a Mexican-American. I'm an American."
Contrary to scenes of hundreds of thousands of united Latinos marching across the country in support of immigration reform, a sizable number of the ethnic group opposes the marches and strongly objects to illegal immigration.But their voices have largely been muffled by the massive protests, which will continue Monday as tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to take to the streets of Tucson, Phoenix and other cities nationwide. They are voicing their support of a Senate bill that would give an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the country a chance for U.S. citizenship. "That's the objective of the marches -- to give the impression that all Latinos are for allowing the illegals to become citizens," said Phoenix resident Lionel De La Rosa. "Well, I'm not." The 71-year-old Texas native and Vietnam veteran said he favors punitive measures more in line with the immigration bill passed by the U.S. House in December that would have made it a felony to be in the United States illegally. "I'm for that 100 percent," he said. "As far as my Latino friends are concerned, they all agree on this." A 2005 survey by the Pew Hispanic Center found that Latinos in general have favorable attitudes toward immigrants and immigration. But when it comes to illegal immigration, significant numbers have negative views of illegal immigrants. The survey found those feelings are strongest among middle-class and middle-age U.S.-born Latinos. And though 68 percent of Latinos said they believe illegal immigrants help the economy by providing low-cost labor, nearly a quarter felt illegal immigrants hurt the economy by driving down wages. U.S.-born Latinos looked even less favorably toward illegal immigrants than foreign-born Latinos. More than a third of U.S.-born Latinos said illegal immigrants hurt the economy, compared with just 15 percent of foreign-born Latinos. Latinos also are divided over whether to allow illegal immigrants to earn citizenship. the survey found. Though 88 percent of foreign-born Latinos favored allowing illegal immigrants to earn citizenship, a smaller number of U.S.-born Latinos, 78 percent, said illegal immigrants should be allowed to do so. Though views such as De La Rosa's are common among Latinos, they are rarely reflected among Latino leaders, said Steven Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C. think tank that favors greater restrictions on immigration. "It's easy to tap into the views of the intellectual class, but harder to tap into the views of the common folks," he said. And because so much of the debate over illegal immigration comes off as anti-Hispanic, Latinos who favor greater restrictions on immigration are often reluctant to speak out. "That's extremely off-putting," Camarota said. "Whatever their views, they keep it to themselves." Many Latinos fear being ostracized for their negative views of illegal immigrants, said Phoenix resident Frank Barrios, 64. "There are a lot of Hispanics that are upset about the illegal just the same way as the Anglo population," said Barrios, a third-generation Mexican-American who traces his family's roots in Arizona to the 1870s. "That group is larger than many people would believe." South Phoenix resident Elsie Orta said she has no plans to participate in Monday's march in Phoenix. "Other Hispanics have told me to go to the demonstrations," said Orta, 55, who said her mother is from New Mexico and her father's family traces its roots to Spain. "I think it's hurting them. They're making a fool of themselves." The Phoenix native believes Arizona is under siege by illegal immigrants who speak Spanish, use public services and take jobs away from citizens. Illegal immigrants, she said, should be deported. "They want us to cater to them all the time," she said. "They're coming over here, they're taking our jobs. And now, everything has to be in English and Spanish? I don't think so. They need to go back." This division is pronounced. Remember that 44% of "Hispanics" voted for Bush in 2004, and the popular attitude of Mexican-Americans is often very conservative, though their self-appointed leaders are uniformly leftist-liberal. Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-04-10 |
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