Rachel Uranga/Daily News on "anti-illegal immigrant groups"

Ethnic booster/"reporter" Rachel Uranga of the Los Angeles Daily News offers "Ranks of anti-illegal immigrant groups swelling". The title tells you most you need to know: while some of those groups may be "anti-illegal immigrant", others may actually be anti-illegal immigration and have no particular animus towards most of the illegal aliens themeselves. Needless to say, such a distinction is lost on someone who's the president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the California Chicano News Media Association [1] and who's written articles promoting Mexico spreading propaganda in public schools (also see this).

But anti-illegal-immigrant groups say growing interest is a wider backlash against pro-immigrant street protests that swept the country last spring and frustration with federal officials whose immigration-reform bill has stalled.

All of the protests were in support of illegal immigration and thus would be properly called "pro-illegal alien" should she want to personify it as she clearly does.

Then, she brings on Harry Pachon, president of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute. He's the former executive director of NALEO, a group linked to the Mexican government; he also appeared on a First Data panel. That company profits from illegal immigration.

[Critics] fear, [the other groups are] dangerously fanning the flames of hate... "We are in the midst of an anti-immigrant wave that periodically affects California, whether it be the 1880s with the anti-Chinese immigrant stance, the 1950s with Operation Wetback or in the 1970s in California when we used to see headlines with thousands of aliens crossing into California all the time," [Pachon says].

..."We know the anti-immigration movement is exploding, that there are certainly more and more organizations and chapters of organizations of chapters being developed all the time," said Heidi Beirich, deputy director for the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, which tracks hate and anti-immigrant groups...

The SPLC has an indirect link to the Mexican government, yet oddly enough that's omitted from her article.

[1] This interview by her friend and colleague Rick Coca (link) details her positions on "reporting":

[Why are you a reporter?] To give voice to people who don't normally have a voice in the paper... ...The Daily News, especially since we have new leadership, is really cognizant of race and ethnicity – much more deeply than they were before – and how key that is to the paper in telling stories. There is sort of a growing awareness of how important (community of color) stories are to the bread-and-butter daily stories that we do and where the two intersect... ...This whole Parity Project and Chips Quinn thing is not solely about getting people of color in the newsroom. It's also about reflecting on the diversity in the community, how it plays out in everybody's lives and why it's important, if it is important...

That's all well and good, but perhaps someone who isn't so "pro-immigrant" and so supportive of Mexico's goals might be better at the whole reporting thing.

Immigration2007b · Sun, 09/02/2007 - 11:04 · · Importance: 1