Sunday, November 14, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JOHN L. SMITH: State must address undocumented immigrant issue -- and soon

They gather near the corner of Bonanza Road and Rancho Drive each morning at sunrise, waiting for work.

If they're lucky, they'll find it in the form of stoop labor, yard maintenance or simple construction. A few hours, or perhaps a few days. Pay is low, but they aren't picky.

Then again, most of those gathered near that corner are in the country illegally and can't afford to quibble.

How much would you pay one of those undocumented workers, those illegal aliens, or how much are you already paying?

Such questions promise to be asked many times in the coming months as Nevada faces the complex issue of the impact of an unprecedented wave of immigrants, mostly from Mexico, to the Las Vegas Valley. Although it hasn't reverberated locally, because of our booming economy, the question is already being asked in communities throughout the West, where undocumented workers are used by businesses and reviled by some taxpayers. It's increasingly a hot-button issue for voters and a challenge for civil rights organizations.

I wonder, is it OK for them to build our houses, bus our dishes and do our dirty work, but not be treated in our hospitals and have access to our social services?

Should they be rounded up and deported, denied basic rights, freedoms and services, or embraced and legally assimilated into society?

Ask some cops, county hospital care providers and candid school district officials, and they'll tell you illegal immigrants have a substantial impact on their budgets. County Manager Thom Reilly has said a big part of UMC's budget woes have been generated by indigents, many illegal aliens, who use the emergency room as their family medical plan. Sheriff Bill Young won't quite come out and say he believes the enormous increase in illegal aliens has substantially contributed to Southern Nevada's rising crime rate, but that's the consensus if you read between the lines.

It's not easy to find high-profile advocates for undocumented workers outside the Hispanic community. Perhaps that's what makes the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada's recent publication of the findings of academics Robert Ginsburg and David Moberg on "The Economic Contribution of Non-Native (Immigrant) Hispanics to Nevada" so compelling. PLAN is clearly bracing for a battle in the near future.

Hispanics pay billions in taxes in Nevada and add nearly $20 billion to the economy, according to the study. PLAN's Rosa Molina notes that immigrant Hispanics not only fill 150,000 jobs in Nevada, but their presence creates 85,000 jobs.

And, no, it's not all police, teachers and UMC nurses.

"If we listen to extremists and deport Hispanic immigrants, it would derail Nevada's economy," Molina observes. "Hispanic immigrants account for 16.5 percent of Nevada's work force, yet receive only 8.3 percent of total earnings. Why is that? Are our low earnings due to the type of jobs we hold? Or is it due to employment discrimination?"

If you think addressing the immigrant question isn't imminent, take a look at Arizona's Proposition 200, which passed by a wide margin. It was promoted as a way to get illegal immigrants off Arizona's over-stressed welfare system.

Now that it has passed, its proponents are attempting to expand its definition to exclude illegals from other government services not federally mandated. Conceivably, that could mean not only police protection, but access to parks and even libraries might be denied. That has immigrants scattering, the attorney general's office under pressure to place parameters on the "Protect Arizona Now" law, civil libertarians rallying, and Proposition 200 supporters cheering.

Forget for now that the law would necessitate the creation of a ponderous system of immigrant cops and holds the promise of a full employment act for the state's lawyers.

Just remember that the question of what Nevada does with its undocumented immigrant question will reveal not only where we're headed as a state, but who we are as people. And it must be addressed soon.

Meanwhile, they'll keep gathering each morning at sunrise, waiting for work.

John L. Smith's column appears Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.