Pubdate: Tue, 19 Jul 2005
Source: Daily News, The (Longview, WA)
Copyright: 2005 The Daily News
Contact: http://www.tdn.com/forms/letters.php
Website: http://www.tdn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2621
Author:  Courtney Sherwood
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

COLUMBIA COUNTY GOP BLAMES ILLEGALS FOR METH EPIDEMIC

There are too many illegal immigrants in this country, and it's time 
for elected officials to do something about it, Columbia County 
Republicans are saying.

A resolution passed by the party's central committee last month 
blamed immigrants for placing a burden on the social welfare system, 
smuggling methamphetamine into the country and filling federal prisons.

"We will, as a voting block, support only candidates who are actively 
pursuing the protection of our country and our rights as citizens of 
the United States of America," the resolution states.

"This resolution is scary," said Marcy Westerling, board member of 
Columbia County Citizens for Human Dignity, which recently sponsored 
a bicyclist on the Freedom Ride for Immigrant Rights,

"We have to be careful when we talk about immigration." Westerling 
said Monday. "We have a very, very poor history in this country of 
using immigration in a racist and self-serving way. There are many 
myths about immigrants."

Recent reports that methamphetamine is being smuggled into the United 
States from Mexico and concerns about terrorists were among a number 
of factors that inspired Republicans to pass the resolution, said Bob 
Tosh of Clatskanie, a delegate to the state Republican convention and 
county precinct member.

"We see more and more crime articles in the paper with Gomez, 
Martinez, Ramirez, and whatever Hispanic name you might see," Tosh added.

"Do we deal with large amounts of illegals on a day-to-day basis in 
Columbia County? No, we don't," said county undersheriff Gerry Simmons.

"There is a growing Hispanic population in Columbia County," Simmons 
said, but there's no clear evidence that the new residents are 
disproportionately illegal.

Although Tosh said he is concerned about Asian, Latino and Arab 
immigrants to the United States, he also emphasized that the 
resolution passed by his party does not single out any racial group.

"All of us who are Caucasian Americans are descendents of ... 
immigrants," he said. "But with legal aliens, you know who's here and 
that they're not some criminal that came from Mexico, escaped from 
jail there and came over here and is raping 5-year-old babies."

"As we make it much more easy to do trade with the passage of NAFTA 
and CAFTA, there is a human side to it," said Westerling, herself the 
child of an illegal immigrant.

"We live in a global world," she said. "Whether you're talking labor, 
whether you're talking terror, whether you're talking trade, we've 
decided that all these borders are permeable."

Undersheriff Simmons predicted that more and more immigrants will 
move to Columbia County.

Columbia County's populace was 94.4 percent white in 2000, the most 
recent year made available by the U.S. Census.

"Look around, you're starting to see a few more black people here, a 
few more Hispanics," Simmons said. "Things are changing."
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MAP posted-by: Beth