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Immigration's bedfellows find they actually can share the blanket
By Daniel Scarpinato
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
PHOENIX — Talk about strange bedfellows. Consider Barry Goldwater Jr.;
Minutemen founder Chris Simcox; Democratic State Rep. Pete Rios; and
Carlos Flores, head of the Mexican General Consulate, together at a
table to talk immigration over sandwiches.
What on Earth could this group agree on?
As it turns out, a lot.
Even the participants, who often land on opposite sides of the hot
immigration debate, were surprised.
At the tail end of a daylong immigration symposium in Phoenix sponsored
by the California-based Communications Institute, the Arizona Daily Star
and several other state organizations including the University of
Arizona, interests as polar opposite as those of Simcox and Rios were
able to find common ground.
"When I sat down at the table and saw the makeup, my first question was:
Why did they put me at this table?" Rios said.
"I had pretty much written him off," Rios said of Simcox.
Rios and Flores were willing to concede the border needs to be secured
for a guest-worker plan to work.
And earlier in the day, Simcox, a controversial figure who is credited
and criticized for being the first to organize a citizen border patrol,
made what some found to be stunning statements: He supports public
education for the children of illegal immigrants and sees the fix as not
just an issue of enforcement, but of reforming Mexico's economy and
basing the number of U.S. visas on the nation's labor supply.
"People have never really listened to the entire scope of what our
organization stands for," Simcox said.
The day, filled with panel discussions and retorts from county sheriffs
and lawmakers from around the state, was not devoid of disagreement.
Some questioned the accuracy of academic studies portraying immigrants
as a net gain for the economy — not a drain. Others wondered whether
those who want to stem the flow of illegal immigrants are really
standing behind the rule of law — or are just scared about the "browning
of America," as Rios put it.
While this group of about 70 was able to find consensus, there was an
acknowledgment of political reality: Congress has failed to institute
federal immigration reform.
The location — downtown Phoenix — was fitting. Less than six miles away
the immigration debate is unfolding in a vivid way at M.D. Pruitt's Home
Furnishings. The Phoenix store has attracted national attention because
of a standoff among immigration activists, sheriff's deputies and the
store owner, who has hired off-duty deputies to catch day-laborers.
"That's not the way to go about it," Simcox said, admitting he'll take
flak from border activists for standing against the action.
"My followers end up criticizing me because I'm too soft," he said at
one point in the day.
Arizona Daily Star Publisher and Editor John Humenik stressed
immigration is a local issue, pointing to the impact it has on the
Tucson economy and culture.
"I think our role here in Arizona and as communicators with the
newspaper is to help the rest of the country understand what is a very
local issue," Humenik said. "It can't be done in Washington. It has to
be done in groups like this. It has to be done in communities like
Tucson and Phoenix."
Some of the recommendations out of the forum included asking legislators
to form a bipartisan immigration caucus, and one break-out group
suggested "eliminating the word amnesty from the dictionary."
But bridging the gap from a policy meeting controlled by moderators to
the partisan halls of government — either Congress or the state
Legislature — is a challenge.
"It's very concerning to me — the rhetoric," said State Rep. Kyrsten
Sinema, a Phoenix Democrat. "Our discussion around the issue of
immigration has never been able to be focused on real pragmatic and
practical solutions. We really need to have a well-rounded set of
options on the table."
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