Buchanan Brings Messages to Schoolchildren, Seniors

Taking a different tack in the nativist campaign theme he has sounded in recent days, Republican presidential hopeful Patrick J. Buchanan on Thursday praised one of Santa Ana Unified School District’s bilingual education programs, which teaches students English through “total immersion” in the classroom.

He also took his America-first message to residents at Leisure World Laguna Hills, where he again called for stepped-up enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border and charged that illegal immigrants were responsible for much of the recent rioting in Los Angeles.

While claiming that most of the “institutions of assimilation” are overburdened, Buchanan pointed to the immersion program at Taft Elementary School as “one that is working.”

“It’s an institution of assimilation that brings these kids in and teaches them not only values, but the history and the background of the country of which they are now citizens,” the candidate said. “And if you can bring them into the language, you can open doors.”

School administrators said parents of non-English-speaking students at the school favor the immersion method over two other bilingual education programs. In the program, non-English-speaking students are primarily taught in English with back-up support from bilingual instructors. But they added that there are no conclusive studies showing that total immersion is the most effective.

Almost half of the school’s population is Latino, with Anglos making up 29% and Asians 17%, school officials said.

Buchanan, who has virtually conceded the nomination to President Bush, has nonetheless pressed his campaign before the June 2 California primary election and advocated proposals--including a tough anti-immigration stand--with hopes of influencing the Republican Party agenda.

At Taft Elementary School, Buchanan shook the hands of first-graders who had on display in their classroom a framed and personally autographed picture of President Bush, and was greeted by a group of students holding a “Mr. Buchanan for President” sign.

Talking to fifth-graders who will not be eligible to vote for at least another two presidential elections, the candidate faced blank stares when he asked if any of them knew when the primary will be held. The students looked equally perplexed when he referred to the Cold War and problems facing America in the post-Cold War era.

In response to a student’s question about gangs, Buchanan said members who commit crimes should be punished. But then, for a brief moment, the conservative commentator sounded almost liberal. If youths are simply joining gangs because they don’t have jobs, he said, it means leaders must “come up with some ideas to provide job opportunities so the gang members” can get employment.

Pointing to those who left gangs as they grew older, Buchanan added, “everybody has got the potential to be a good, productive citizen.”

Surrounded by American flags and red, white and blue balloons during his speech at Leisure World, Buchanan drew rousing applause when he renewed his call for the doubling of U.S. Border Patrol personnel and the construction of new ditches and fences along the border to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

“In San Diego County, 45% of the felony arrests are illegals,” he told the elderly residents. “In Los Angeles, people break the law getting into the country, then burn down the city.”

The largely Republican retirement community has a voter registration rate of about 80%.

While the crowd was mostly enthusiastic, Buchanan did not respond to one resident who angrily accused him of making anti-Semitic remarks in the past.

One fan, Marjory Coveney, 72, said afterward that she has never disagreed with Buchanan but probably would vote for Bush this time.

“I think Mr. Buchanan is using this election to build up a base for the 1996 election,” she said. “I think he’s smart. I’ll vote for him then.”