Posted on 03/09/2006 8:01:12 AM PST by SmithL
Waiting for a burger Wednesday near Concord's day labor center, where many unauthorized workers seek jobs, Mina Metropoulos considered America's newest immigrant population.
Metropoulos, whose family owns the Monument Boulevard shopping center where Monument Futures sits, said she realizes that the men at the day labor center work hard, are considerate and are trying to make it here in the ways available to them.
"They're seeking what our parents thought was the American Dream," she said.
Her benign view seems to be spreading around the state, according to a poll released today.
Nearly half of Californians now say unauthorized immigrants favorably affect the state, a sentiment that has grown dramatically in the past 12 years, according to the poll.
Last month, the California Field Poll asked 500 Californians about their attitudes toward illegal immigration. While overall approval of the undocumented population splits almost down the middle, the number of people with a favorable view has grown from 26 percent in 1994, the last time the Field Poll asked, to 47 percent now.
"Some of it is economic," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. "There's less of a feeling of a threat that illegal immigrants are taking jobs away."
Some of the change in attitude can also be attributed to high levels of immigration - more poll respondents are now immigrants, DiCamillo said.
Among Latinos and noncitizens, illegal immigration is viewed much more favorably, while a majority of Republicans and white non-Hispanics have more negative opinions, the poll found.
The poll, conducted by telephone in English and Spanish, has a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
The poll was released the same week that the Pew Hispanic Center estimated the nation's undocumented population at nearly 12 million people, including large numbers who arrived in the past five years.
The poll results did not resonate with some Concord residents interviewed Wednesday.
"I'm not against the people themselves," said Keri Mallon of Concord. "I understand their plight in wanting to come to this country, but I am concerned that American citizens don't receive that same free medical and public benefits as illegal immigrants."
Leslie Bolin, who was picking up boxes at a moving truck rental store on Monument Boulevard, said illegal immigration has driven her from her neighborhood.
"I don't like them bugging me as I go into different places," she said. As she spoke, a half-dozen immigrant workers waited at the gate for jobs helping people move. "I'd rather have them where they belong; I'm sorry about that."
Activists on both sides of the debate blamed the media for irresponsibly shaping public opinion.
"I think this is due to the fact that the media -- I have to blame the media -- have not shown the factual impacts of illegal immigration," said Yeh Ling-Ling, an Orindan and director of the Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America, which advocates limiting immigration.
"If Californians were told all these devastating facts, I am very confident that the vast majority of Californians would want drastic reductions in illegal immigration."
Immigrant advocates also blame the media, particularly AM talk radio for fanning the anti-immigrant flames.
"Some of the media coverage, particularly if you look at some of the radio talk shows and some of the television coverage, it's been quite negative," said Reshma Shamasunder, director of the California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative.
The Field Poll also found that a large majority - 65 percent - of Californians support a temporary worker program; and an increasing number, 44 percent, approve of driver's licenses for undocumented workers.
"Immigrants are more integrated than we realize," said state Sen. Gilbert Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, a leader in the fight for driver's licenses. "I think that the anti-immigrant lobby, while very shrill and very well-organized, does not reflect the sentiments of the people of California and the American people."
When the day labor center on Monument Boulevard opened a few years ago, program manager Jorge Vallejo said very few women came in to hire the workers.
Now, half of the clients that come into the Monument Futures center looking for painters, landscapers, movers, masons and plumbers are women, and they are increasingly comfortable around the all-male work force.
"I can see the changes at the center," Vallejo said. "How that translates into the street I don't know."
Bernardino Juarez, a recently arrived immigrant from Mexico City has gone to the center for the past 15 days waiting for work. He wants to make enough money to study a trade in the United States.
"If the government made it possible for us to get papers, we would do it with pleasure," he said in Spanish. "I have documents, but they are from God."
Nearly half of Californians are unauthorized immigrants.
Then let the ALLIES pay for them -- let's see, now running well over $100 BILLION per year to subsidize the entitlements and benefits that the taxpayers are being ripped off for --- where do we send the bill ???
Nearly half of Californians are unauthorized immigrants.
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Yeah, the cost is now over $10B alone for Mexifornia.
I think this article is a plant by Vincente Fox and Bush...
The history of humanity is migration - regardless of laws, borders or other devices which try to prevent the flow. We should recognize that our borders are not static - when enough Mexicans live here, some day the US may absorb Mexico.
Please call them INVADERS!
President Bush has been great on most things except for our border.
He has been great on the war on terrorists.
But on the border he is a gross failure.
He acted fast and correct on the 3,000+ people murdered at the world trade center.
He ignores the many rapes, murders and robberies which might be larger than the murders and money loss at the world trade center.
More Americans are abducted on the border of Mexico than in Iraq!
Start building the fence.
It should be made a felony for Criminals who overstay their visas and Invaders.
I believe we should give amnesty to these poor CRIMINALS or INVADERS.
This should be a 2 week amnesty to get the heck out of our Country.
The ones who ignore this amnesty should be buried in a tent city jail and fined $10,000 or buried elsewhere.
All aiders and abettors of these CRIMINALS or INVADERS should get 1 year in a tent city jail and a $10,000 fine for each CRIMINAL aided.
Those in government should be the first ones charged.
When most of our ancestors came here America was not a welfare state. You didn't get off the boat and step into the welfare line. Also, these people came through processing centers, such as, Ellis Island. They didn't come over the border and disappear. They paid and continue to pay taxes. They learned English. They became Americans and not some "shadow society" that is here but not really a part of the country.
More msm disinformation.Where do these authors find these dolts?Mia Metropolus;"They're just what our parents thought was the American Dream."Yeah Mia,but i'll bet your parents came here legally,and went through the process of becoming full citizens.Author;"Her benign view seems to be spreading around the state according to a poll released today."Unless public opinion has changed drastically,the results are bogus.
They became Americans and not some "shadow society" that is here but not really a part of the country.
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Yes, that was the REAL America then. Totally different nowadays where foreigners come here, not to be Americans, but just to come here to TAKE from this country. They live in clans and groups and do not want to assimilate into American society and culture, or become Americans.
America is for Americans -- but expect Washington to acknowledge or support that elaborate concept...
Got no problem with'em "seeking the American dream" AS LONG AS THEY DO SO LEGALLY. ALL illegals should be deported ASAP.
"Her benign view seems to be spreading around the state, according to a poll released today."
And the fact that massive propaganda in favor of "her benign view" is coming from the media, from the liberal churches, and both political parties (but NOT, be it noted, from the vast majority of the American people)
Here is an idea: Every invader that is caught, is sentenced to 2 years of building the border fence. After that they can legally apply for entry into this country. Another alternative for building the fence is to have immigrants apply for the construction project. They are paid the U.S. minimum wage. They work on it for two years, and are given their citizenship. I bet there would be a huge line to apply for that. Instead of a fence we could build something like the Great Wall of China.
OBL Ping!
(Knoy your enemy)
Bookmark
Sorry. I think this is closer to the barbarian migrations that destoryed Rome. Some of the excuses and circumstances are even the same.
Some of the change in attitude can also be attributed to high levels of immigration - more poll respondents are now immigrants, DiCamillo said
THAT is where they got the results they wanted. They called the illegals.
Legal or illegal, America is filled up. For me the ideal population was about 1965.
Exactly. Most of countries in the world seem to dislike us. Most of the people entering illegally don't care for this country. But where do these people always look for their prosperity, higher education, protection in times of war? Maybe if we made it a whole lot tougher to get into this country and forced people to do it legally, those entering would have a better appreciation for the USA.
You are right about the lack of a large welfare state, however. Maybe this is why immigration is not the hot button issue in Florida (which has ALOT of immigrants, but not much of a welfare state), then Calipornia (which has a generous welfare state, yet no taxes to pay for it).
Really? Have you ever seen how empty much of the middle of the country is? How parts of Ohio, Massachusetts, the Dakotas, West Virginia, and Kansas are actually LOSING population?
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