The Political Campaign Against Illegals

In the 2004 movie A Day without a Mexican, fictional California Senator Abercrombie is denounced in the media for hiring undocumented aliens. He has a Latino maid and nags his wife to hire “Mexicans from Guatemala and Honduras” to do repairs and improvements on his Los Angeles mansion.

In real life, Ralph Norman, the Republican challenger who upset Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. John Spratt in South Carolina’s 5th District, was denounced in The Charlotte Observer for not verifying the immigration status of workers hired by his construction corporation Warren Norman Co.

Norman, who considers immigration his number one issue, ran a series of TV ads in the Charlotte market with the slogan: “Illegal aliens have flooded our borders for years, while politicians just watched.”

Stuart Watson, a WCNC Channel 6 investigator, recently asked Norman, “Isn’t it a little hypocritical to run an ad against illegal immigration when your development in fact profits from illegal immigration?”

It is duplicitous to say one thing to gain voters and at the same time attack people who work for you through subcontractors.

Many politicians have been hypocritical about so-called illegal labor.

Just last week, local Spanish-language station Radio Líder received on-air phone calls asking reporters to investigate the legal immigration status of workers at restaurants owned by relatives of congresswoman Sue Myrick.

The answer from radio personality Aura María Gavilán Posse was to substantiate any allegation with proof.

At Mi Gente we have received e-mails and phone calls with similar suggestions: “Check if they use the free federal program to verify social security and immigration status.”

I have to confess that I have been shy to pursue those kinds of insinuations. I do not want to give extra work to Immigration and Customs agents. I prefer they capture and deport gang members and criminals instead of looking for inoffensive cooks, bus boys or waitresses.

What is questionable is the ease in which politicians use the undocumented population for political gain because “illegal aliens” live a situation of taxation without representation. They are easy prey because they do not have the right to vote.

In Rock Hill and Fort Mill, Norman and Spratt are competing for who is the most anti-immigrant candidate.

Here in Charlotte, Rep. Myrick has bombarded the citizens of her district with a one-page flyer titled, “Illegal Immigration Update.” The handout has an interesting note in small print: “This mailing was prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense.”

Launching his gubernatorial campaign, Bill Graham, a wealthy Salisbury attorney and chairman of North Carolina Conservatives United, initiated a media blitz attacking immigrants for “abusing the state’s education, health care programs and tarnishing the state’s electoral process.”

His TV ads were aired through WSOC Channel 9 and his radio spots through WBT 1110 AM.

Commissioner Bill James has used the Mecklenburg County Board meetings to address the immigration issue. The political maneuver is viewed as a way to regain Republican control of the nine-member local body.

In a widely circulated e-mail to commissioner Jennifer Roberts, James expressed dissatisfaction with Mayor Pat McCrory’s Study Immigration Committee.

“To begin with, a lot of the folks on the committee are folks that use illegal labor,” wrote James.

I asked him via e-mail how many of the 28 members were using illegal labor, and if there was any proof. In his response he did not offer any evidence.

As Maudia Melendez, one of the three Hispanics on the Committee, said about the hypocritical handling of the immigration issue and the hiring of undocumented labor, “Those free of guilt can throw the first stone.”

Rafael Prieto Zartha is the editor of the Charlotte-based Spanish-language newspaper Mi Gente.

This article appears in Oct 18-24, 2006.