Lamm urges limits to U.S. immigration

Lamm urges limits to U.S. immigration

August 30, 2001

IMMIGRATION CRITIC Dick Lamm speaks at a forum in Durango Tuesday.

By Jim Mimiaga
Journal Staff Writer

Rampant Mexican immigration to the U.S. fills a labor shortage, fuels both country’s economies and contributes to cultural diversity, proponents argued at a forum in Durango Wednesday.

But unregulated immigration promotes runaway population growth and causes serious safety and humanitarian problems that cannot be overlooked any longer, say immigration officials and advocates for tougher enforcement laws.

That conundrum was grappled with by 130 citizens who attended the five-hour community forum sponsored by the Durango Herald, which ran an eight-day series on immigration last week. The community discussion featured speeches by the Colorado Mexican Consulate, immigration critic and former Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm, local employers, immigrant-support organizations and a top official from the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

"How big a country do we want America to become?"

— Dick Lamm
Former governor

Fretting that unchecked immigration by Mexican job-seekers will cause a population problem like that in India or China, Lamm advocated stricter border enforcement. As the director of public policy and contemporary issues in Denver, Lamm warned that, unless curtailed, the influx of economic refugees from Mexico will triple the population of Colorado in 50 years to 12 million and could double the population of the United States.

"How big a country do we want America to become?" he asked. "Immigration is a growth-control problem; we need policy for a more sustainable population. With our current level of immigration, our population in 2050 will be between 400 and 500 million, on its way to 1 billion. That is too many neighbors."

Lamm implied that unless Mexican illegal immigration is vastly reduced, Spanish-speaking strongholds in the U.S. could one day divide the country because, he claimed, immigrants do not assimilate well enough or have a common language with the English-speaking communities they live in.

"We must take great care in not becoming a Hispanic Quebec," he said, in reference to the mostly French-speaking province threatening to secede from Canada. "Melting pots that don’t melt become pressure cookers, like the Balkans."

But critics said such views were outdated and unrealistic.

"The melting-pot theory is passé," said Lourdes Carrasco, a Fort Lewis College Spanish professor. "Mexicans provide a distinct intelligence and cultural flavor to America, like chile. You cannot blame minorities for the evils of the future."

The approximately 4 million illegal Mexican immigrants to whom President Bush is considering granting amnesty fill service, agricultural and industrial jobs Americans won’t do, said local employers and members of Compañero Latinos. The Durango-based group advocates for social acceptance of the Mexican migrant community.

"It is not like these people are refugees living in tents outside the community," said Ariel Brickel of Compañeros. "They are assimilated in the community; they live here, work here, pay taxes here. It is about time we recognize that."

Current U.S. immigration policy violates human rights, said Olivia Lopez, director of Compañeros and a bilingual immigrant from Mexico. "I think about what it must be like to be forced to walk across the desert, and then watching your relatives die in front of you from heat exposure."

The Mexico-U.S. relationship is unique by virtue of proximity and the fact that "they need us and we need them," said one man in the audience. Mexican immigrants deserve to be accommodated because, unlike European immigrants seeking permanent residency, Mexican laborers for the most part plan to return to their home country, he said.

"The Great Wall of China did not work — why would a closed U.S.-Mexico border? As long as there are better-paying jobs here, you will have Mexicans immigrating in order to feed their families back home," said panel member and Durango general contractor Michael Austin.

Lamm argued that offering amnesty makes the problem worse by encouraging more illegal immigration, further stressing U.S. resources for education and social-welfare programs.

Michael Comfort, INS deputy director for Colorado and Wyoming, said improving ineffective policy that punishes border-crossers more than the employers who rely on them depends on what Congress hears from the public. "There needs to be discussion on immigration issues and then Congress should adjust the law to reflect what people want. I will not make that judgment."

Asked whether there are plans to enforce laws concerning employers who hire illegals as zealously as the border is patrolled, Comfort responded, "No, there are not enough resources."

"If had the resources I would put them towards more services for immigrants seeking legal status. That process must be made faster," Comfort said. Because of a backlog, applicants must wait two years or longer before residency or work-permit requests are even considered. In the meantime they risk deportation.

Marisa Ornelas, who provides immigration consulting in Cortez, said her Mexican clients work hard to become legal and learn the language. But, stymied by the lack of Spanish-speaking services and the INS bureaucracy, many immigrants are forced to get false papers.

"I advise them to get valid documents and learn English," Ornelas said. "It is a fight for them to survive, and they are scared. But the more they know, the less they will be taken advantage of."

Leticia Calzada Gomez, Mexico’s consul general in Denver, explained that under President Vincente Fox, "Mexico took a leap forward towards the construction of a new nation where democratic values, prosperity, education and the rule of law prevail."

Gomez said immigration policy between the two countries needs to be drawn up cooperatively in order to deal with the problem effectively.

But to allow time for the Mexican economy to become more stable, illegal immigrants deserve the protection of legal work status, she said. Recent beefed-up efforts to prevent the historical migration of Mexican immigrants to and from the U.S. are not good policy, and damage both country’s economies, Gomez said.

"Colorado is Mexico’s second-largest export market for agricultural products, and $500 million in goods crosses the U.S.-Mexico border each day. From slaughterhouses in Greeley to the beautiful mountain resorts in the state, we can find hard-working working Mexicans laboring."

Mexico wants to establish a integrated immigration policy with the United States that recognizes "the reality of Mexican migration to the U.S. is a deeply-rooted social and economical phenomenon between two neighboring countries," Gomez said.