PERSPECTIVE ON IMMIGRATION : 6 Million Californians Can’t All Be Wronged : The politicians’ bashing is creating a climate of prejudice against all people of Mexican ancestry.

California’s ranking elected officials of both major parties have been engaging in Willie Horton politics by raising undocumented immigration as a central issue of legislative battles and the 1994 elections. This time, instead of using a single criminal personality to foster a climate of discrimination, political ambitions are causing an entire population--California residents of Mexican ancestry--to be dehumanized and criminalized.

Although people of Mexican origin are not the sole victims of this xenophobic politics, we have been stigmatized by the manner in which this topic has been seized by some of our federal and state legislators, the governor and the state treasurer. The border with Mexico is the problem, they say; by implication, the Mexican community in California is the problem, its long-term productive members indistinguishable in the thinly veiled racial coding.

Key facts have escaped both the popular mentality and the policy debate. For example, the best research indicates that the vast majority of undocumented immigrants are in fact members of productive, wage-earning households made up of citizens and legal immigrants. A large number of those who are currently undocumented are awaiting legalization, postponed due to the long waiting period faced by those from high-migration countries like Mexico. There is also compelling evidence that immigrants represent a net benefit to our economy.

Furthermore, many officials have exaggerated the size of the undocumented population. Recent estimates from the federal government indicate that 1.2 million to 1.3 million undocumented persons reside in California--about 4% of the state’s population--not the 2 million being cited in the political arena. Latino immigrants are estimated to account for one-third of all those without documents. Only about 7% of the state’s entire Latino population lacks legal residency status.

Sound public policy can’t be built on the basis of fear, hysteria and a deliberate campaign of misinformation. However, as was the case during the nativist movements of the 1910s and the 1930s, truth doesn’t matter; in politics, playing on people’s fears about unemployment, economic uncertainty and ethnic diversity matters all too much.

The particular emphasis on Mexicans is apparent in Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s border toll, Gov. Pete Wilson’s and Treasurer Kathleen Brown’s linking of immigration policy with the North American Free Trade Agreement and Brown’s echoing of Sen. Barbara Boxer’s call for a military or National Guard backup to the Border Patrol, as well as in a variety of legislative proposals. All of these positions emphasize migration that crosses the land border with Mexico. Never mind that more than 55% of the people living in California without legal immigration status are visa abusers, most of whom came here as family visitors, tourists or students, by plane or across the Canadian border. Never mind that people from Mexico represent almost 30% of the state’s annual legal immigration.

These same elected officials proclaim that they harbor no racist intent in their positions on immigration reform. Yet the “Mexican” content of their proposals has a devastating, chilling effect on the 6.2 million of this state’s citizens and legal permanent residents of Mexican origin. Whatever the intent, the outcome is racist, given the realities of segregation, discrimination and institutional racism that, unfortunately, lie at the foundation of California society. To overlook this context is irresponsible, particularly given these economic hard times. And we should not forget that a number of restrictionist advocates openly espouse white supremacy.

While Brown wisely called for common sense, fairness and responsibility in addressing undocumented immigration, the full text of her Town Hall speech did not follow this admonition. Borrowing heavily from Boxer, she emphasized enhanced employer sanctions, increased border enforcement and deportation of immigrant felons, contributing, along with other officials of both parties, to the imagery of immigrants as criminals.

In a climate of fear and intolerance, we all lose. We can either work together to build a multiethnic democracy and a vibrant economy, or we can condemn ourselves to endemic civil strife. As we await the emergence of courageous politicians who can lead from a position of truth and reason, I challenge our media, community leaders and elected officials to end the baiting and work productively for California’s future.