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http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion/article/0,1299,DRMN_38_1448561,00.html

By Carmen Diaz, Corine Flores, Marlene Guerrero and Oralia Lopez,
Special to the News
September 30, 2002

Some critics of Rep. Tom Tancredo say he is attacking Hispanics.
They're outraged he questioned the blatant continued presence in the
U.S. of an illegal immigrant family.

We're outraged, too, but not by Tancredo. We're outraged that Hispanic
activists and the media imply that all Hispanics favor sanctuary for
illegal aliens. Hispanics demand legalization for Mexican illegals,
Hispanics demand safe border crossings, Hispanics demand free tuition
for illegals, we are told.

Absurd! We four Hispanics - and millions of others - want no such
thing. We want borders brought under control and immigration reduced
to historical levels. We want illegals sent home. We want politicians
and others to stop pandering to self-appointed Hispanic "leaders" by
working for mass amnesties or other forms of "regularizing" for
illegal aliens.

The very core of our system of government is majority rule. Yet, we
blatantly ignore the vast majority as a tiny minority of a minority
manipulates the system and as politicians pander to this voting bloc
while implying the ludicrous - that 35 million Hispanics think exactly
alike.

Hispanic "leaders" don't speak for Carmen Diaz and Marlene Guerrero.
We entered this nation legally and respect its laws and are determined
that it not go down the same paths to overpopulation-driven poverty
and environmental degradation as our native Honduras and Peru. Studies
show the opportunity to emigrate keeps such countries from dealing
with their own population and political problems.

Immigration and high immigrant fertility rates are driving a U.S.
population boom that could mean our children will, by 2050, live in a
nation of up to half a billion people. We are angry that politicians
subvert the wishes of Americans who, through our replacement-level
birth rates, show we want to stabilize our population growth rate.

Immigration - at five times historical norms, rates higher even than
during the Great Wave of 1880 to 1915 - is sending our population
exploding even as we struggle to come to grips with water shortages,
sprawl, species extinction, failing schools, social problems and
inadequate infrastructure.

Hispanic "leaders" don't speak for native-born Corine Flores and
Oralia Lopez with roots deep in Texas and New Mexico. We work in the
hospitality industry where employers brazenly hire illegals at
substandard wages, telling us to accept similar pay or not work at
all.

They and others then hide their shameful practices behind the
insulting clich�, "Immigrants take jobs that no one else wants." We in
fact want such jobs, but we need to earn enough to feed our families.
Worse, illegal aliens compete for what little affordable housing there
is.

A Sept. 27, 2001, Zogby poll showed that 70 percent of Hispanics said
a dramatic increase in border enforcement is needed. The 2001 Zogby
poll showed a majority of Hispanics thought an amnesty for illegal
Mexican immigrants was a bad idea. A March 2000 Wall Street Journal
poll I showed three times as many Hispanics viewed immigration as "too
open" as "too closed."

We are a nation of immigrants, but we are not a nation of illegal
immigrants nor of unfettered immigration. Until 1965, legal
immigration averaged 200,000 a year. Now it exceeds 1 million, plus
hundreds of thousands illegal aliens added yearly to our population.
American workers cannot compete where unfettered immigration serves as
a government subsidy to business to keep wages depressed.

Hispanics, like other Americans, do not want to live in overpopulated
misery, in a nation lacking opportunity or border security. Those
issues, not safe harbor for illegal aliens, are our concerns. On
immigration matters, Congressman Tom Tancredo speaks for us and many
millions like us.

--

Corine Flores is a retired housekeeping professional residing in Santa
Fe, N.M. Marlene Guerrero is a naturalized United States citizen from
Honduras and a spokesperson for Colorado Alliance for American
Immigration Reform. Oralia Lopez is a Texas native residing in
Colorado and Carmen Diaz is a naturalized citizen from Peru residing
in Colorado.