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."
Kosovo redux
They settled with like kind for mutual support of each other. And, protection from the other ethnic groups who didn't care for anyone other than their own. Most of these problems were carryovers from Europe. They didn't like each other when they were sharing a continent let alone a city or neighborhood.
Juan got his papers from God, God told him to move to el norte where the dumb Americans live. I like it, thats a great excuse. Note that the MSM didnt challenge God this time. Now talk about God in any other context and whoa nelly, you must be some fundamentalist who wants to kill everyone.
What's wrong with that? They apparently have more people then they can support or people would not be leaving.
That land in the center of our country is not empty. It is full of farms where we grow our food.
It is also full of red state Republican voters. Whenever you over populate an area you end up with a blue state. And there is almost an exact correlation between population and taxes. The more people, the higher the tax burden. I like Wyoming empty thankyou very much.
"More poll respondents are now immigrants,THAT is where they got the results they wanted."Good point.I have absolutely ZERO confidence in polls or jornalist's in general.Sooo easy to manipulate.
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.
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It is a tragedy upon us, that Washington does not see it that way -- these invaders and opportunists are viewed as "VOTES" or "CHEAP LABOR" ... and without any other consideration.
The state of affairs in Washington is reprehensible.
ILLEGALS, PING!!!
BUILD THE WALL?DEPORT AL ILLEGALS.
Deport all illegals and then let in guest workers if needed, after proper medical screening and security checks.
We need to let them know that we are going to deport and fingerprint all illegals before accepting any guest workers. Then let them know that anyone that was deported will NOT be allowed to return under any circumstances!
Also any children born here to illegal parents are NOT citizens!!
Actually I was thinking of an indolent population ("bread and circuses") and Roman patricians supporting barbarian migrations 'cause they worked cheap.
"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?"
I'm well aware of it. Are you old enough to be aware of the deteriorating quality of life from overcrowding that burdens the majority of Americans? California is the best example of that, from paradise, to approaching Blade Runner in only 35 years. I believe you could store the entire world's population in the boundaries of the United States, and everybody would survive fine, but I think America reached the ideal population about 1965.
Yes, that explanation will work for me. Of course thats why Rome lost its empire, but hey, America today just ignores real history, no problem.
Bad translator - he was referring to Jesus who sells documents and IDs on the corner.
Seriously though; he displays the sheer arrogance and belief that our government owes him something that truly sets this group apart from all previous groups that have come here...legally and illegally. No court, no council - this sorry lot deserve nothing but the big boot. And a deeply implanted tracking tag.
Remember: Soylent Green is people!
BTW: Did it ever occur to you that the reason major metros are overcrowded is because people want to live there? I don't see too many people fleeing to the "open space" of South Dakota, western Oklahoma, Kansas, eastern Montana, Wyoming, etc?
Rome didn't just lose the empire, it ceased to exist. That will be our fate in the face of barbarian migration.
I wanted to say the same thing, but out of respect for our Italian freepers, I refrained. Plus, I like spaghetti alot.
How warm and comforting.
I'm tingling with humanity at this woman's generosity.
You know, maybe laws against stealing money from banks are unfair. There are poor suffering people out there who really need that money. Also, there are guys who just can't get sex - maybe we should ignore rape laws too for those poor souls.
This woman and people who think like her are idiots. They don't get it.
While these vipers and worms slither across our borders in defiance of our laws, there are lines of LEGAL immigrants WAITING YEARS to get here. Is THAT justice??
What about Osama and his boys. Give them a shave and bath and put them in a serape and they could look just like another south of the border illegal invader. Do we want THEM here??
A government which can't defend its borders is a government which can't govern.
If we need more honest workers, raise the immigration quotas - ACROSS THE BOARD. DOn't give preferantial treatment ot illegal border sneaks just because they ostensibly live next door to us.
No wonder they call it Kalipornia.
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