Phil Angelides says he doesn't favor erecting "a Great Wall of China" to keep illegal immigrants out of California, adding that he would take a "compassionate and pragmatic" approach as governor to the politically volatile immigration issue. ...
And he said he would have signed a recent bill - vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - to allow illegal immigrants to receive financial assistance to attend California's universities. ...
Angelides, who favors implementing a federal policy to allow illegal immigrants in the United States a path to citizenship, said he doesn't support a proposal for 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border to curb illegal crossings.
"The Great Wall of China shows us that great walls do not work," said Angelides, who said that as governor he would address the immigration issue without emotionally charged rhetoric.
"I would talk to people about the importance of being reasonable and deal with this issue in a way that is compassionate and pragmatic," Angelides said. "The fact is, when people get in an anti-immigrant fervor, it's the governor's role to say, 'Let's do what's right for our state.'
"Everyone knows that mass dislocation, mass deportation is not feasible. People know that the economy of this state is in so many ways supported by immigrant labor. So the smart thing is to bring immigrant labor out of the shadows."
Recent anti-immigration steps seem to have had some short-term effect. While some people may be relieved to think there maybe haven't been quite as many dark-skinned people who speak Spanish coming in, there's another consideration, too.
Namely, California agriculture is completely dependent on illegal immigrant labor. In Who will pick the fruit? 10/05/06, the San Francisco Chronicle reports in an editorial:
For the first time, it appears that there are real labor shortages in the fields and orchards of California. According to some grower organizations, California is suffering from a deficit of between 50,000 and 70,000 workers, out of a typical peak farm labor force of 500,000.
The shortage of farm labor certainly can't be attributed to a shortage of undocumented workers in the United States. Recent estimates put the number of illegal immigrants on U.S. soil at a record high of 12 million.
But there is strong evidence that increased controls on the border have made it more difficult - and expensive - for seasonal workers to cross into the United States. Those who make it tend to stay permanently in the United States, and are seeking, and finding, more lucrative and less back-breaking work than farm labor.
Schwarzenegger may have slipped up on this one. The standard Republican schtick has been to try to stir up the base a little bit to grumble about how they're too many Mexicans around without actually doing anything meaningful to stop it. That way, the grassroots xenophobes were happy, and the Republican growers were happy. (Trust me, the big California growers are mostly hardline Republicans.)
But Schwarzenegger pandering to the Minutemen types may have thrown that balancing act out of kilter.
In his Sacramento Bee interview, Angelides reminds people of Scwarzenegger's claim in 2003 that because he was a Republican, he could get the Cheney-Bush administration to shower big bucks on California:
While espousing compassion on immigration, Angelides chided Schwarzenegger for not being tough enough to convince the federal government to reimburse California for nearly $750 million for the incarceration costs of illegal immigrants.
He also said California has been shortchanged by the Bush administration's failure to meet a post-Sept. 11, 2001, promise of providing 2,000 new U.S. Border Patrol agents a year.
"A governor ought to be rolling up his or her sleeves and demanding, cajoling and working with the federal government to get them to live up to their responsibilities," Angelides said.
On other issues, Schwazenegger continues his low-key rightwing vetoes, after splashy public showcases of bill-signing to show what a "moderate" he is.
