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This was an excellent article that highlighted the tensions between the GOP and the Latino community. I do feel that it left out the notion of making English an “official” language, an idea that’s been bandied about for years now. In the March/April 2004 edition of Foreign Policy Magazine there was an article decrying the immigrant “invasion” and lamenting the possibility of America diverging into “two nations” separated by culture and language because of the inability or unwillingness of many immigrants to conform to American linguistic and cultural standards. Of course, I believe that most of the people in the GOP advocating this stuff don’t really believe all of this, because if they did, they’d just stop buying peaches and tomatoes and start trying to pass initiatives calling for tougher sanctions against companies and individuals who hire them; such as arresting managerial and supervisory staff who hire illegal immigrants, instead of rounding up immigrants for show. All this hostility, in my opinion, is nothing but dime store populism meant to rally the fearful to their side during an election cycle.

Joe, I agree. Immigration has definitely been used as a wedge issue. Yet it isn’t addressed in earnest during the debates or in the mainstream media. In fact, except for this WSJ editorial, there has been little discussion about the more hardline conservative immigration plank in the platform that was just passed at the GOP convention.

I felt that article had some right-wing biased, but not the worst I’ve seen. I do appreciate his criticisms of the GOP’s alienation of this ethnic group. I feel that because of the aforementioned “lack of party ties” this voting bloc has historically had an absense of presence at the polls. I feel that increasing numbers in native-born Hispanics of eligible voting age will produce a concurrent increase in the population among the voting electorate. This rapidly growing demographic will continue to play an eminent role in elections and the legislature on laws regarding immigration. I feel that as representation of different ethnicities continues to diversify in education, politics, and socio-economics, it will yield legislative reform that tends to favor immigration and allow easier paths towards citizenship. I agree that there is nothing wrong with a sovereign nation protecting its borders, but disagree with the idea of building a wall. First of all, is a wall going to be really that much better than the fence that is already there? Is it really worth the costs? And besides, who are they going to try to get to build the wall anyways? Well, since this is America, I would assume underpaid migrant workers, and good luck finding ones supporting this cause.

Also, another issue that really has yet to be addressed is the militant tone that is shaping the immigration debate on behalf of those who take the anti-immigrant stance. Often you hear anti-immigration advocates speaking of immigrants from Mexico, illegal or otherwise, not as people who are driven by an economic impetus to relocate here, but as part of an invasion.

The article states encouraging information but the ugly issue of race is still a painful reality. Just last semester I heard a fellow student in another Political Science class express that he didn’t think America was ready for a black President. What pained me so much about his statement was that he was a young man in his early twenties. I being quite older, had thought and hoped that the younger generation was not concerned so much with race as in prior generations. Being in the valley at UTPA for a semester I also encountered a strong opposition to the idea of black President. There remains much work for the Chicano community in educationing our voters and in leaving behind racial hatred and preference once and for all. As far as a border fence, this will be the biggest waste of time and money spent by our government because it will never work. Correction, the 2nd biggest waste of time and money, Iraq was the first.

This was definitely an interesting article on immigration, which seems to a hot issue among the presidential ticket this election. The GOP’s idea to wall off Mexico would be recipe for disaster. The Republican Party has been chasing the Latino vote for years, hoping that they will be able to win the loyalty of Hispanic voters. This has shown to be an uphill battle, due to social factors that the Latino population are just not attracted to; such as social conservative politics and tax cuts.Taking a hard line on immigration is a turn off to all immigrants. What they need is a party that will listen to their needs or risk losing their support politically, which is what has happend with the GOP. There are several factors that sway Hispanic voters toward the Democratic Party:1) majority of Latinos vote for the Democratic party and immigrants who are family members will be influenced by their votes, 2) Hispanics are prejudiced against the GOP, stating they are “the party of the rich.”, 3) there is the issue of immigrants on welfare, which is a big majority of them. Why would Hispanics vote for the GOP if the Democrats are more apt to push for social service benefits for low income households. There are many other factors, but these are just a few. The GOP need to take into account the census numbers mentioned in the article that Hispanics represent the largest minority in the nation. In order for a realignment to occur the Republican Party will have to appeal to immigrants as Americans not as foreigners, alienating them is not a way to win an election. Don’t get me wrong, I know that there are Hispanic voters that do vote Republican and are opposed to illegal immigration. The GOP will have to really decide if they want to grant anmesty to illegal immigrants living in this country, if they do, this will yet be another path to electoral defeat. The truth is there is a fine line between the god-given right to migrate to this country in search of a better livelihood and the government’s authority to take away that right.

I agree with Joe concerning English being implemented as the official and ONLY language here in the U.S. What was not mentioned as well was future immigrants having to pass an English test as a requirement for entry, all federal funding for bi-lingual education should not be funded anymore, and all government business be conducted in English. Come on now, it is no wonder the GOP have been a winner at a losing game with Hispanic voters. I feel that underneath their facade are racial undertones which need to be addressed. They need to promote national unity not biasness.