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Activists gear up for immigration reform debate PDF Print E-mail
Contributed by Iamme   
Monday, 05 March 2007

Source:  North County Times

By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer

 Tina Jillings, from house wife to activist
 Tina Jillings, from house wife to activist.  Picture courtesy of El Latino 

NORTH COUNTY ---- Tina Jillings and Claudia Spencer are two local Latino women who could easily represent opposite sides of the nation's immigration reform debate.

Jillings said she will soon travel to Washington, D.C., as part of a group lobbying Congress for wide-reaching reform that she hopes includes legalization for the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. Spencer, on the other hand, was recently featured in a newspaper ad arguing against illegal immigration.

"Illegal aliens and their supporters would have you believe that all American Hispanics want open borders, unrestricted immigration and amnesty for law-breakers," the ad, which features a large picture of Spencer's face, reads. "That is just not true."

 Anti-immigration activist with the group "You Don't Speak For Me" Claudia Spencer and her husband, Michael Spencer, who founded the Vista Citizens Brigade, at Wildwood Parkin Vista on Friday.
Anti-immigration activist with the group "You Don't Speak For Me" Claudia Spencer and her husband, Michael Spencer, who founded the Vista Citizens Brigade, at Wildwood Parkin Vista on Friday.
HAYNE PALMOUR IV Staff Photographer - courtesty of North County Times
 
 
The women are Vista residents trying to influence a debate that began last week in the nation's capital over what to do to overhaul the country's broken immigration system.

Last week, some Republicans complained that they were being left out of the bill-writing process. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., are expected to unveil a comprehensive immigration bill this week.

Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, said a comprehensive bill that includes amnesty for illegal immigrants would be an insult to legal immigrants.

"It would be a slap in the face because they played by the rules and those who didn't play by the rules would be rewarded," Bilbray said.

The ad, which ran in the Feb. 25 edition of the North County Times, was sponsored by You Don't Speak for Me, a group of Latinos opposed to illegal immigration, and the Federation For American Immigration Reform, a Washington-based group that advocates stricter immigration laws.

Spencer, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Mexico who is the group's California president, was out of the country Friday and could not be reached for comment, according to her husband, Michael Spencer.

Albert Rodriguez, the group's founder, said the ad aims to recruit other Latinos to join the group and to make the public aware that many Latinos don't want amnesty for illegal immigrants.

"We are not against legal immigration, we are against illegal aliens from all over the world," said Rodriguez, a retired Army colonel.

He said the group has about 5,000 members in 17 states.

 PEGGY PEATTIE / Union-Tribune
                          PEGGY PEATTIE / Union-Tribune
Vista confronting change: Tina Jillings, flanked by laborers Eofilo Ríos (left) and Eulohio Rosales, says the city's new day- laborer ordinance is misguided. - picture courtesy of SignonSandiego.com


Jillings is founder of the Vista-based Coalition for Peace, Justice and Dignity, a grass-roots human rights group. She said that You Don't Speak for Me does not represent most Latinos' views about immigration.

"I think they (represent) a minimal amount of people," Jillings said. "They don't have a big following."

The two women represent a schism in the Latino community over immigration reform.

The ad cites a survey conducted in September that reported 85 percent of Latinos surveyed oppose increasing legal or illegal immigration. The Polling Company conducted the survey on behalf of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based research organization that supports stricter immigration policies.

A poll conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington-based research organization funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, reported that 72 percent of Latinos surveyed said illegal immigrants helped the economy by providing low-cost labor, while 21 percent said they hurt the economy by driving down wages.

David Shirk, director of University of San Diego's Trans-border Institute, a USD-based group that studies cross-border issues, said the Latino community is no monolith. But the outcome of surveys often depend on how questions are framed.

"I think the Center for Immigration Studies and the Pew Hispanic Center have clear tendencies in their data gathering," Shirk said. "Both are scientific in their sampling methods, but it comes down to the questions" that they ask.

Col. Rodriguez said the You Don't Speak for Me ad ran in newspapers in other cities, such as Washington, Chicago and Boston. It will soon run in other parts of the country, including New Jersey and Michigan, he said.

Jillings said she plans to lobby congressional representatives March 12 and 13 as part of a delegation of activists with the American Friends Service Committee, a human rights group with an office in San Diego.

The Associated Press contributed to this story. Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Comment at nctimes.com.

 

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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 06 March 2007 )
 
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