While a recent poll has shown that the overwhelming majority of Latinos oppose the new anti-immigration law in Arizona, there are some who are not afraid to express their support of it.
“I just don’t like the fact that they’re going to say that an American Latino has the same concerns as a Latino from Mexico. No, we don’t,” says Jesse Hernandez, a second-generation Mexican American and self described “proud Phoenix Republican”.
According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC survey conducted shortly after Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the law, 70% of Latinos nation-wide opposed the law.
However, a National Public Radio report found that 12% of second-generation Arizona Latino voters support SB 1070, and the number jumps to 30% support from fourth-generation Latinos.
For Luis Avila, who emigrated legally from Mexico, Latinos who support Arizona’s actions are “denying their culture”.
Many argue that undocumented immigrants should seek proper channels for entering the US, but as Avila discovered, that is not always a realistic option.
It took him two decades to get his US citizenship. Being from a middle class background, he was in a position to be able to wait. That, however, is not the case for many who come to the US desperate to work.
“People make $4 or $5 a day. They are not able to go to the big city to apply for residency. I mean, that line is way, way too long,” Avila says.
Even though Mary Marin is the daughter of an undocumented Bracero worker who overstayed his permit in the 1940s and was almost deported, she supports the law.
Of the current population of undocumented workers, Marin says, “They’re here without permission. So in a way, they have to go back.”
Matt Barreto, a pollster with Latino Decisions, finds that while Latinos may sometimes be split on various aspects of less controversial immigration reform, there is pretty strong unanimity across the country in opposition to the Arizona law.
And while some Arizona Latinos may say outspoken critics of SB 1070 don’t speak for them, it is the Latino community who is galvanizing opposition against this law and other similar attempts across the country.
SB1070 is scheduled to take effect in July.
We all look the same to the White folks. It does not matter if we are Illegal or Legal. They just hate Hispanic and it’s culture.
It’s baeucse those who are here illegally really aren’t interested in being American. They are simply interested in their own best interests and that of their native countries. They aren’t here to help improve our system and our country, they are here to plunder it.