Rally protests immigration rhetoric

Interfaith group says legislators' bills are divisive

By Jacques Billeaud

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHOENIX — A group of religious leaders and an estimated 350 other people rallied Tuesday outside the Arizona Capitol to ask the state's politicians to tone down their rhetoric in an immigration debate they claim has become increasingly hostile toward immigrants.

They said the Arizona Legislature's efforts to confront illegal immigration are piecemeal and divisive, singling out a bill that would expand Arizona's trespassing law to make illegal immigrants' presence in the state a felony.

The religious leaders said the state's politicians ought to instead urge Congress to approve more comprehensive changes, such as a guest-worker program — a pathway for illegal workers to seek U.S. citizenship and helping to reunite immigrant families separated by borders.

"If we don't pass such comprehensive immigration policy, I think our country will wallow in a kind of divisive emotional divide that will not be for the well-being of this country," Catholic Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson said shortly before the prayer service began Tuesday morning.

Kicanas was joined by clergy from the Jewish, Islamic, Methodist and Episcopal faiths at the prayer service, which at moments resembled a political rally. "Stop shouting, work together," participants chanted.

Although Congress is considering a proposed overhaul of America's broken immigration policies, state politicians have sought to lessen Arizona's role as the busiest illegal entry point along the nation's porous southern border.

Public pressure is mounting for state politicians who face re-election races this year to confront Arizona's border problems, even though immigration has long been considered the sole province of the federal government.

The Legislature is considering a proposal to prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving state-funded child care assistance or attending adult education classes. One unsuccessful measure would have required school districts to maintain a record of students who aren't legal citizens.

Republican state Rep. Russell Pearce of Mesa, a staunch advocate for tighter borders, rejected the request by the religious leaders to ease up.

"It's dividing the lawbreakers from the law-keepers — that's the only division," Pearce said. "The people that want the rhetoric turned down are simply people who don't want the laws enforced."

Pearce, who didn't attend the rally, said the Legislature is correct in trying to fix the problem because the federal government has done a poor job of enforcing immigration law.

The state shoulders huge costs for providing education and health care to immigrants and their families, and illegal border crossings have brought more crime into Arizona, Pearce said.

"We want to be looked at as human beings, not as foreigners who want to invade this country," said Cruz Espinosa, who came to America as an illegal immigrant in 1969 and became a U.S. citizen in 2000. "We come here to work, work hard, and make an honest living, like everybody else."

Espinosa, a machine operator for a refrigeration business in Yuma, said some of the immigration legislation in Congress and at the Arizona Legislature would lead to authorities hassling Latinos, both legal and illegal.

Democratic state Rep. Ben Miranda, who advocates on behalf of Latinos, said the appeal by the religious leaders might work on moderate Republicans who are seeking support from Hispanic voters, but won't soften immigration hard-liners in the Legislature.

Miranda said that could spell trouble for Republicans, who have made inroads in attracting Hispanic voters. "If they continue along the path they are going now, they won't have a chance at them," he said.

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