When Anger Against Aliens Clouds Reason : Valley Legislators Need a More Refined Approach

Angry feelings run deep in the San Fernando Valley when it comes to the subject of illegal immigration. Although a Los Angeles Times poll conducted earlier this year, for example, found that a majority of respondents in every part of the city thought that there were too many immigrants here, Valley residents were most inclined to also blame illegal immigrants for everything from crime to the economic downturn.

But much of the ire seems to come in the form of ill-conceived, knee-jerk reactions and uninformed beliefs. In such situations, it is important to guard against gross exaggerations of what illegal immigrants cost the region and Southern California as a whole. And it is also important to acknowledge what they contribute to the local economy.

The ire has manifested itself in the signs and placards that greeted President Clinton’s visit to the Valley in May that read “L.A. Is a Third World Cesspool” and “Deport Illegal Aliens Now.” It has come in the form of open disdain for gatherings of day laborers hoping to solicit work at various locations around the Valley. The most palpable example of the latter occurred when Agoura Hills, in 1991, became one of the first communities to pass an ordinance prohibiting such gatherings in public places.

Few stop to consider the fact that the day laborers, for example, are performing what are often brutally menial but nonetheless vital tasks, without benefits, and at the lowest of wages. Through such low-pay, highly productive labor, mostly at jobs that few other people want, they are helping many small, struggling companies in the Valley stay in business.

Our elected representatives are supposed to bring a more informed and long-range perspective. They should be arguing for tolerance and cautioning constituents against the temptation to blame foreigners for all of our problems. But strong public sentiments seem to be propelling elected officials into poorly reasoned legislative solutions to the problem of illegal immigration. A few examples are in order.

U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), who represented parts of the Valley until this year, for example, has called for harsh action to curtail benefits for illegal immigrants for the past three years. That includes a highly controversial proposal to amend the Constitution to deny citizenship to the children of undocumented residents born in the U.S.

This is short-range thinking at its worst. Illegal immigrants come to this country in search of work, not U.S. citizenship. For that reason, such a move would hardly stem the flow of illegal immigrants to this country.

Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) has endorsed Gallegly’s proposal, and he has also expressed support for a tamper-proof national identification card for those seeking employment. Again, another approach is warranted.

A better way to enforce a ban on employing illegal aliens, while preventing discrimination against workers who merely look or sound foreign, would involve the creation of tamper-proof and counterfeit-resistant Social Security cards. U.S. workers already have and must display such cards in order to get a job. It would be a simple way to screen out illegal workers.

Different ideas have been pushed by Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) and Rep. Henry A. Waxman, whose district includes parts of Studio City and Sherman Oaks. Both have pressed for additional federal reimbursements for California to help pay for the health and education costs of new immigrants. The state desperately needs such help, and the region would be sure to benefit.

Berman’s and Waxman’s efforts are not headline grabbers, but they are examples of the kind of calm, thoughtful approach that a hot topic like illegal immigration demands.