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Opinion
May. 07, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDITORIAL: This is 'not a fringe issue'

Hispanic activists in denial over opposition to illegal immigration

Of all the poll results reported last week by the Review-Journal -- including public opinions related to highway construction, education and the war in Iraq -- the least-surprising findings dealt with illegal immigration.

Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc. interviewed 625 registered Nevada voters on Monday and Tuesday -- 262 Republicans, 259 Democrats and 104 independents. The majority of participants, regardless of their party affiliation, gender or region of residence, made it clear they're sick of providing public services to illegal immigrants and that they want law enforcement to pay better attention to the issue.

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    • Seventy-two percent of respondents said illegal immigrants who graduate from Nevada high schools should not be allowed to receive Millennium Scholarships, which provide four years of tuition to the state's public colleges and universities. Seventy-seven percent of participants said election ballots and state documents should not be printed in languages other than English. And 81 percent of those polled said Nevada businesses should be cited and fined for employing illegals.

    These are mainstream sentiments, and they're nothing new. In other states, including neighboring Arizona and California, voters have easily approved initiatives intended to deny public services to illegal immigrants and force them to learn English.

    The social and fiscal costs of illegal immigration are of urgent concern to most citizens. Our public school districts spend tens of millions of dollars educating children who can't speak English, and our public hospitals are going broke providing care to people who prefer to exist within a gray economy. State and local officials, meanwhile, do nothing to stop noncitizens from running up the tab. In some cases, they encourage it.

    Yet the stock response from too many "Hispanic advocates" is to accuse Americans of being "anti-immigrant" and hope that no one notices they've dropped the word "illegal" from the discussion.

    Fernando Romero, president of Hispanics in Politics, is in a state of denial when it comes to illegal immigration and the sentiments of most citizens.

    "There is a way to skew things (with polls)," Mr. Romero said after learning of the survey's results. "I don't think the poll reflects the diversity of the community." He added that denying full college scholarships to illegals is "closing the door on the future of our children."

    Iris Contreras, a community organizer for the left-wing Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, also believes that the poll, whose participants were selected at random from around the state, is statistically irrelevant.

    "I always say the people who have time to answer these questions probably don't work or are retired," she said. "They are more likely to have these anti-immigrant feelings."

    Notice the absence of the word "illegal."

    It doesn't matter to Mr. Romero and Ms. Contreras that many Hispanic immigrants follow the law, enter the country legally, learn English and become productive citizens and taxpayers. According to the "diversity" world view, Hispanics who do none of those things should be in line for the same entitlements and privileges, even though they've entered the country illegally.

    On principle, the issue has nothing to do with Hispanics. This is about the country's collective disgust with the government's refusal to enforce immigration laws.

    As state Sen. Joe Heck, R-Henderson, says, "It's not a fringe issue." This is an overwhelming national sentiment. And if supporters of illegal immigration can't recognize this, public opinion polls will soon be the least of their worries.

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    jessica wrote on September 29, 2007 08:52 AM: review journal is really anti-hispanic acourding to nevada state collage employee
    he wrote a letter stateing why all they keep writing about hispanics in a negative way
    editorial wrote a letter back with alot rude comments and signed with a fake name..

    scared?


    Tyrone Rush wrote on August 11, 2007 12:56 AM: As an american citizen and 29 year military veteran I never thought I would see the day when I would become an outcast and basically ran out of my community of 18 years by illegal immigrants who became the majority in the community turn private residents into boarding houses accomodated as many as 15 people, polarized by their refusal to associate and assimilate due to their inability to larn and speak english, and destroy the property values due to their refusal to cut lawns, remove trash from public areas, have six and seven cars which they park in front of your property, sell drugs, form gangs leave graffiti and shopping carts throughout the neighborhood, breaks into cars shoot up houses, and cause mass exeoduses from the neighborhood. I had six more years and my house would have been paid off but due to safety concerns had to leave this environmet (goodbye to my retirement plANS) i NOW PAY FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS MORE FOR A HOUSE WITH AN
    HOA to prevent a repeat of this incident. Why shoulde my quality of life
    be degraed to accomodate illegal aliens?A bigger question is what about the US citizentry? The quality of life issues in southern Nevada leaves a lot to be desired, schools are overcrowded with the majority of students being hispanic, hospitals going broke (UMC) and requiring a 44,000,000.00 dollars bail out from the tax papers besides them raising their prices and everyone walking around with an anchor baby to complicate the issue even more, hit and run accidents are now common everyday events and everything is spiraling out of control. The rich live in master planned communities such as summerlin away from this carnage. Eventually we will all lose our national identity.


    Mark Wilson wrote on May 08, 2007 08:28 PM: Amazing how one well put, to the point editorial can generate such response from readers that range from concern to anger.

    With respect to the latter, I can only say that I don't advocate it -- but I fear that if President Bush gets his way with granting amnesty to the 12-20 million illegal aliens, which he says isn't really amnesty, but really is -- that violence could break out.

    It may have already begun.

    I'm informed from news reports that the victim of the bombing at the Luxor was an "immigrant" from Mexico. The media, from past performance are known to be sensitive to reporting the immigration status of criminals or victims of crime.

    I hope I'm wrong on this.

    Mark Wilson


    Don Watson wrote on May 08, 2007 10:36 AM: Very good Editorial.

    Criminals, socialist and progressives seem to think your polls are irrelevant--just as they seem to think the laws of our Constitutinal Republic are irreievant. It's all about the law; patriots support it, criminals do not.


    Jeri Palmer wrote on May 08, 2007 09:29 AM: Illegal immigration is not about race, it is about the rule of law. No one in this country illegally should be entitled to and taxpayer funded benefits of any kind.


    Craig wrote on May 08, 2007 08:19 AM: It is very refreshing to see the truth of how Americans' really feel reflected in an article from the MSM.

    The invasion is well under way, we tried being nice, it's not working!

    It's time to take drastic measures as in profiling and deportation on an epic scale.

    8,000 more invaders cross our southern border everyday, how much more will it take for people to come to their senses.

    "They just come here to work" BS has to stop. We ran out of skilless jobs 20 years ago.


    Carson wrote on May 08, 2007 06:18 AM: Many honest people are forming groups in their cities and visiting their local city council meetings.

    1 Find a place for a meeting. Libraries or coffee shops are good.

    2 Let your local news in on what you are trying to do. Patriots or Minutemen are good key words that will let others know what your group is about.

    3 Hold a meeting. Get a small group of people elected to help keep things organized and your group functioning.

    4 Visit your local city council or other public meetings and let them know how you feel.

    Rallies are a good way to let people in your area know what your group is about. Let the police know when you have a rally planned. To keep your group going it can be helpful to have a flyer ready to let people know of your next meeting or rally.


    Frances Gates wrote on May 08, 2007 05:55 AM: The vast majority of Americans are NOT against "immigrants," and I married one. "Immigrants" have been screened for health issues, their ability to be self-supporting, and the absence of a criminal record.

    Illegal aliens are quite another matter. The Mexican illegal aliens have been taught since early childhood, in their schools, that we stole most of Mexico from them, and they hate us for it. Although some illegal aliens do come to do the agricultural work that "Americans won't do for slave wages," There are now 20 million ILLEGALS who won't do the agricultural work, and the farmers aer still screaming for help!

    Too many come with diseases to spread among us. http://newswithviews.com/Cosman/madeleine3.htm (Now Google: Los Angeles + chagas), to steal citizenship for their kids, and to escape justice in their own countries or to find a richer hunting ground for their criminal activities.

    Where's the outrage? So, far, the Iraq war has cost us less than 4,000 deaths, which is certainly a huge tragedy, but illegal aliens are killing over 9000 Americans EACH YEAR, with violent crimes involving guns, knives, etc., and drunk driving alone. The estimate is that over 360 sexual assaults PER DAY are committed in this country by illegal aliens.

    All of these crimes and the anguish that goes with them were totally preventable with good border security and enforcement of the laws that would make illegal aliens self-deport. When are we going to start preventing 9,000 annual deaths, countless life-altering injuries, and 130,000 annual sexual assaults?

    We have as much right to choose who comes into the country as we do to choose who comes into our homes.


    Bren wrote on May 07, 2007 11:56 PM: A MUST see site!!!!

    http://usawakeup.org/HowToDestroyAmerica.htm



    Lynne wrote on May 07, 2007 06:06 PM: Mr. Romero seems to be the one who is "skewing things" as the American citizens are fed up to the point we want EVERY illegal gone back to their countries and enforce our Constitution and laws now. Iris Contreras is doubly wrong as Citizens are relevant and her ideas are irrelevant so if she doesn't like it.....Too bad.


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