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SIMCOX/MCDC Supports Education for Children of Illegal Aliens

http://www.azstarne t.com/sn/ related/215865. php

ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.12.2007

PHOENIX — Talk about strange bedfellows. Consider Barry Goldwater
Jr.; Minutemen founder Chris Simcox; Democratic State Rep. Pete Rios;
and Carlos Flores, head of the Mexican General Consulate, together at
a table to talk immigration over sandwiches.
What on Earth could this group agree on?
As it turns out, a lot.

Even the participants, who often land on opposite sides of the hot
immigration debate, were surprised.
At the tail end of a daylong immigration symposium in Phoenix
sponsored by the California-based Communications Institute, the
Arizona Daily Star and several other state organizations including
the University of Arizona, interests as polar opposite as those of
Simcox and Rios were able to find common ground.

“When I sat down at the table and saw the makeup, my first question
was: Why did they put me at this table?” Rios said.

“I had pretty much written him off,” Rios said of Simcox.

Rios and Flores were willing to concede the border needs to be
secured for a guest-worker plan to work.
And earlier in the day, Simcox, a controversial figure who is
credited and criticized for being the first to organize a citizen
border patrol, made what some found to be stunning statements: He
supports public education for the children of illegal immigrants and
sees the fix as not just an issue of enforcement, but of reforming
Mexico’s economy and basing the number of U.S. visas on the nation’s
labor supply.

“People have never really listened to the entire scope of what our
organization stands for,” Simcox said.
The day, filled with panel discussions and retorts from county
sheriffs and lawmakers from around the state, was not devoid of
disagreement.

Some questioned the accuracy of academic studies portraying
immigrants as a net gain for the economy — not a drain. Others
wondered whether those who want to stem the flow of illegal
immigrants are really standing behind the rule of law — or are just
scared about the “browning of America,” as Rios put it.
While this group of about 70 was able to find consensus, there was an
acknowledgment of political reality: Congress has failed to institute
federal immigration reform.

The location — downtown Phoenix — was fitting. Less than six miles
away the immigration debate is unfolding in a vivid way at M.D.
Pruitt’s Home Furnishings. The Phoenix store has attracted national
attention because of a standoff among immigration activists,
sheriff’s deputies and the store owner, who has hired off-duty
deputies to catch day-laborers.

“That’s not the way to go about it,” Simcox said, admitting he’ll
take flak from border activists for standing against the action.

“My followers end up criticizing me because I’m too soft,” he said at
one point in the day.
Arizona Daily Star Publisher and Editor John Humenik stressed
immigration is a local issue, pointing to the impact it has on the
Tucson economy and culture.

“I think our role here in Arizona and as communicators with the
newspaper is to help the rest of the country understand what is a
very local issue,” Humenik said. “It can’t be done in Washington. It
has to be done in groups like this. It has to be done in communities
like Tucson and Phoenix.”

Some of the recommendations out of the forum included asking
legislators to form a bipartisan immigration caucus, and one break-
out group suggested “eliminating the word amnesty from the
dictionary.”
But bridging the gap from a policy meeting controlled by moderators
to the partisan halls of government — either Congress or the state
Legislature — is a challenge.

“It’s very concerning to me — the rhetoric,” said State Rep. Kyrsten
Sinema, a Phoenix Democrat. “Our discussion around the issue of
immigration has never been able to be focused on real pragmatic and
practical solutions. We really need to have a well-rounded set of
options on the table.”

? Contact reporter Daniel Scarpinato at 307-4339 or
dscarpinato@ azstarnet. com.