Texas Dems get bold on immig
Houston Chronicle - June 11, 2006
Platform takes a swipe at GOP support for plan to stop illegal
immigration
By CLAY ROBISON and KRISTEN MACK Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
FORT WORTH - Striking a markedly different posture from Republicans,
the Texas Democratic Party on Saturday endorsed an immigration policy
encouraging assimilation over wall-building.
The party, many of whose voters, candidates and officeholders are
Hispanic, has traditionally been supportive of immigration. But a new
platform adopted by delegates to the party’s state convention
included language specifically striking back at GOP-led attempts to
tighten up the border with Mexico without helping immigrants become
citizens.
Texas Democrats also continued to poke fun at the proposed border
wall, which Texas Republicans have endorsed.
“Before we start building a fence, all of us need to know two things:
how much it’s going to cost and then who’s going to build it,” said
state Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, whose father was born in Spain
and mother emigrated from Mexico.
“The reality is, we probably will need more undocumented workers to
build that fence than we have currently in the United States,” he added.
In other business on Saturday, delegates re-elected Young County
Attorney Boyd Richie, of Graham, a veteran party activist, as their
state party chairman. Richie overcame a strong challenge from former
state Rep. Glen Maxey, of Austin, the only openly gay person to ever
serve in the Texas Legislature.
“We leave here today united,” Richie said after winning the election.
“We are going to kick rump in November.”
Delegates also heard from Democratic nominees for statewide offices,
including Houston lawyer Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a first-time
candidate challenging Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Bentsen honored
Radnofsky criticized Hutchison for taking campaign contributions from
the oil industry, for failing to secure adequate health care
facilities for veterans and for close ties to Tom DeLay, the former
U.S. House majority leader from Sugar Land who resigned from Congress
in an ethics scandal.
“I’m proud to be running for Lloyd Bentsen’s seat, which is
temporarily occupied by someone else,” said Radnofsky, who spoke
after a convention tribute to the late U.S. senator, who recently
died in Houston.
Gubernatorial nominee Chris Bell, of Houston, addressed the
convention Friday night.
State Rep. Garnet Coleman, of Houston, who co-chaired the platform
committee, insisted the platform was not intended as a direct
response to the Republican immigration plank.
“It’s a wedge issue for the Republican Party,” he said. “We are not
arguing this with them. We have a point of view.”
Still, the platform does take direct swipes at the GOP.
“We believe it is the height of hypocrisy for Republicans who
consistently oppose increases in the minimum wage and worker
protections to now claim they are ‘protecting American jobs’ with
extreme immigration proposals,” the document says.
The Democratic platform calls for sufficient personnel, training and
equipment to ensure a strong Border Patrol.
“We believe that national security requires that we determine who is
in our country and what their intentions are, but our nation has
neither the economic nor the emotional capa- city to expel 11 million
people,” the platform reads, referring to a widely accepted estimate
of the illegal-immigrant population in the country.
Call for a ‘better Texas’
The platform also supports creating a path to citizenship for most
illegal immigrants who are already here and specifically opposes GOP
proposals to charge individuals with a felony “simply because they
are undocumented.” The Democratic Party is emphasizing a “better
Texas” in its platform and that is not defined by immigration policy
alone, Coleman said.
“This is their issue. It’s an internal fight in their party. It’s not
a fight in our party,” he said. “They have chosen hate and
divisiveness as a way to win elections.”
Republican members of the U.S. House from Texas voted for an
immigration bill that focuses primarily on security and would make
criminals of illegal immigrants. And both Hutchison and U.S. Sen.
John Cornyn, R-Texas, voted against a more-balanced immigration bill
approved by the Senate.
Radnofsky said she supports an “arduous path to citizenship,” similar
to what the Senate has approved, for illegal immigrants.
“You must learn English, you must keep your nose clean, you must pay
fines, you must stay a period of time and frankly you must stand
behind the line in terms of those who have legally applied (for
citizenship),” she said.
GOP warns of ‘disaster’
Texas Republican Party spokeswoman Gretchen Essell said the
Democrats’ policy ignored border security.
“This is a recipe for disaster, and they are gambling the safety of
Texans,” she said.
Anchia said immigrants were attracted to the U.S. by an “insatiable”
business demand for labor. The most effective way to counter illegal
immigration was to adopt policies encouraging legal immigration, he
said.
“We think border security is very important, but we think that those
(Republican) proposals might do more damage to Texas than good,” he
added.
State Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Rosenberg, said she was saddened to see some
Hispanics vote for Republicans.
“They must be blind or deaf,” she said. “The Democratic Party is just
like America. It welcomes people. It doesn’t send them away or treat
them like trash.”
The convention also heard from other Democratic candidates on
Saturday, including lieutenant governor nominee Maria Luisa Alvarado,
a Veterans Affairs analyst from Austin; attorney general nominee
David Van Os, a lawyer from San Antonio; and comptroller nominee Fred
Head, a former state representative from East Texas.
Adoption of the platform was one of the last pieces of business at
the convention. By the time the party got around to it, hundreds of
delegates had already gone home.