Barry Wong loses Hispanic and Latino Republican votes in an instant
I have been a little bit more busy than normal this morning as my fellow Hispanic Republican members and the media have called to find out our reaction to Barry Wong’s recent statement on “shutting off electricity to undocumented immigrants”. I was taken aback, and agreed with my fellow Hispanic Republicans that Barry Wong just lost our support during the primary election.
Perhaps that is what Barry wanted. While it may SEEM that politicians might gain a little bit of support before primary elections….what they don’t know is that their continued demonization of the Hispanic immigrants will cost the State of Arizona in the long run. I have close friends who know Barry Wong very well, and let me tell ya: THEY ARE LIVID.
We are sick and tired of Hispanic immigrants being used as a politcal futbol. We are so sick of this immigration debacle.
Glenn Hamer is a good Republican who writes an excellent open letter (below) to Barry Wong.
This isn’t just a Hispanic “thing” folks…..Latinos are not the only ones who are undocumented. For instance, according to the New York Times, in fiscal 2009, 332 Chinese immigrants were caught in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector. This was eleven times the 30 caught the previous year. In fiscal 2010 first quarter, the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector arrested 281 Chinese immigrants from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, the first quarter of the current fiscal year. “It’s the norm to associate illegal immigrants with Mexicans, but the number of Chinese illegal immigrants is also significant,” said Peter Chan, former president of the Tucson Chinese Association.
Dear Mr. Wong:
To say that I was shocked and dismayed to read in Wednesday’s Arizona Republic of your proposal to deny utility services to illegal immigrants would be an understatement. Your cynical attempt to ratchet up the rhetoric over immigration to score cheap political points in a bid for office marks a new low in our state’s immigration debate.
Today is the third day in a row when Phoenix-area temperatures will reach 110 degrees or higher. Since you’re a native Phoenician, I don’t need to remind you of the peril our state’s most vulnerable residents face in our summer heat. To deny someone access to electricity based on his or her immigration status is not only a wrongheaded policy proposal, it’s just cruel.
If your proposal were to take effect, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where a household has its electric utilities shut off in the summer heat, thus exposing children or the elderly to potentially fatal consequences. And since you’re concerned over the citizenship of ratepayers, it bears pointing out that U.S. citizens in that household could be the ones who bear the brunt of your idea. It’s not just air conditioning that gets shut off under your proposal, but also medical equipment like respirators or dialysis machines or cooking equipment.
Your claim that your proposal is somehow consumer-friendly is absurd. The costs of implementing your plan would be borne by ratepayers, never mind the hit taxpayers would take as police and fire departments would increasingly be responding to heat-related emergencies.
This proposal has raised serious questions over your beliefs about the government’s role in consumer transactions. What other transactions would you seek to limit based on immigration status? For example, should the Department of Weights and Measures seek to ensure that access to gas station pumps is limited to legal residents?
While not your intention, you’ve demonstrated the folly of individual states attempting to craft their own immigration policies and exposed the consequences of a federal government that’s been unwilling to once and for all craft an immigration solution that secures our borders and strengthens our economy.
I hope you give your proposal serious reconsideration. It’s an unnecessary and totally unwarranted distraction away from what should be a legitimate debate over state energy policy.
Sincerely,
Glenn Hamer
President and CEOArizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry
