Posted on 06/30/2005 6:34:36 PM PDT by bayourod
Sen. Wayne Allard is downplaying Democratic criticism after he reportedly linked illegal immigration with crime, and the Colorado Republican accused the state Democratic Party of harboring its own stereotypes.
A May 27 story in the Greeley Tribune quoted Allard as saying that the more illegal immigration there is, "the more crime you have."
The story was about his opposition to a bill that would allow undocumented workers to apply for permanent residency.
Colorado Democratic Party Chairwoman Pat Waak called on Allard to apologize, and assailed his remarks as "another example of Republican attitudes toward the Latino community."
Allard said in a phone interview Tuesday that his comments to the paper were taken out of context. He said he was referring to smugglers who abandon or enslave illegal immigrants and are involved in drug and crime rings. He said he never mentioned ethnicity and, in fact, based his remarks on media accounts of the plight of women and children from around the world.
"I think the chair of the Democratic Party owes an apology to the Hispanic community for identifying all illegal immigrants as Hispanics," Allard said.
Discussion of illegal immigration usually alludes to Hispanics because most of the undocumented workers in Colorado come from Mexico and other Latin American countries, Waak said.
"Nobody's confused here about what was meant and what was said," she added.
Greeley Tribune Editor Chris Cobler said the reporter denies misrepresenting what Allard said. Cobler said he had no reason to doubt that Allard was denouncing people who traffic in illegal immigrants.
"But I strongly believe our reporter when he says that's not what (Allard) said," Cobler added.
He said Allard's office didn't complain about the story after it was published.
Nearly 30 percent of Greeley's 76,930 residents are Hispanic, according to census figures.
State GOP Chairman Bob Martinez said his party is the only one trying to deal with illegal immigration, while Democrats produce only "rhetoric and obstructionism."
"As a Hispanic and a Republican, I am deeply offended by Pat Waak's generalization and subtle support for illegal immigration and all the problems it entails," Martinez said.
Waak compared Allard's remarks to recent statements by Republican U.S. Reps. Bob Beauprez and Tom Tancredo, which "not only offend the Latino population in Colorado but manage to draw a racial divide on the issue of immigration policy."
Allard has nothing to apologize for.
And I don't recall any WASPs busting a cap into the head of an off-duty cop while attending a baptism at Trinity United Methodist Church.
Well, D-U-H !!!
Do they just happen to be the more impoverished areas? There's nothing unique to Hispanics that changes the relationship between poverty and crime.
But remember that Hispanic workers contribute to the overall prosperity of your city.
NO!, just asking you to back up your claims, that's how it works in a legitimate debate. If I had made statistical claims such as yours, I would feel obligated to back them up with a supporting study along with a link to the study and the group who conducted it.
Footnotes and Links are your friend :-)
Selective enforcement of the law decreases respect for the law.
Good for Allard! More and more GOP leaders are speaking out against illegal aliens.
See stats for incarceration.
This is not high school debate. I've provided links before. If you wish to challenge or disbelieve anything I've written feel free to do so but I'm not your research assistant. .
Yea sure, If you posted them so many times before, you should be able to provide a link, You're a fraud
I did. The total percent of California prison population that is Hispanic (Mexican) is 36.4%, whereas the percent of the California population that is Hispanic is 40%.
Furthermore, the California prison population is declining as the illegal immigrant population is increasing.
"At the beginning of June, we had 468 fewer inmates than the same time the year before. The last time CDC experienced an absolute decline in the population compared to the prior 12 months was in 1977," Terhune said.
"As recently as July 1997, the prison population growth was 11,878 inmates a year. However, the population growth has been steadily dropping over the past three years, as documented in the Departments Spring 2000 Population Projections Report (.pdf). "link "
Don't believe the immigration myths, they usually start on websites that you wouldn't even be allowed to mention on FR. But now that you know the truth I'm just sure you will change your opinion about illegal immigrants? Right?
27% of the prisoners in the fed pen are illegal aliens per the DHS. BTW if hispanic immigrants are the answer to a pro second amendment government what went wrong in CA? And one more thing from now on I think there should be no more attacks on you, instead you will have to answer the hard questions as liberals everywhere will have to in the new era of Freedom.
I've tried to find the source of that stat and haven't been able to. If you happen to come across it please ping me.
I keep running into dead ends because the feds don't keep stats on illegals "entering" the system. And that's the key, not how many immigrants lose their legal status after incarceration or aren't eligible for parole or have federal holds on them etc...
What's the Dem Chairwoman going to do next, register all the illegals? And perhaps pay them to vote for Democrats?
Why does Allard even play the Democrats game? He might tell her Royal Highness, "That's what I said, live with it."
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