Immigration a touchy subject

J. Patrick Coolican and Timothy Pratt

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 | 6:48 a.m.

Republican candidates for governor all talked tough on illegal immigration Monday, wading into an issue that is rapidly becoming perilous for their party - especially in Nevada and other Western states with burgeoning Hispanic populations.

Days after hundreds of thousands of people marched in Los Angeles and other cities to support immigrant rights, Nevada's Republican candidates said they would prevent immigrants from getting government aid or scholarship money, and two issued a call for an English-only state.

"We need to stop using two languages," said Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas. The line drew applause from the audience at the forum, hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition's Nevada Chapter.

"We want them to be able to converse in the international language of commerce," said Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, who recalled her Italian grandmother and great-grandmother insisting the family speak English.

(Hunt later softened her message, with a press release saying "Don't put illegal aliens on a bus ... put them on a path toward citizenship so they can contribute to society.")

Both Beers and Hunt said at the forum they favor a citizenship requirement for the Millennium Scholarship, which gives Nevada high school graduates money for college. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., didn't rule it out. Gibbons also accused illegal immigrants of not paying taxes.

In Nevada, where Hispanics comprise 20 percent of the population, according to the 2000 Census, the issue doesn't excite the business community - which needs a steady supply of labor - or GOP insiders, who would like to compete for those voters.

Republican strategists and high-profile Republican Hispanics warned that the far-reaching immigration measures offered by the candidates are at best an off-message waste of time and at worst a way to turn off everyone in the business community, as well as the large and growing Hispanic community.

"People should be very, very careful before they agree to Draconian measures," said Peter Ernaut, a Republican consultant and principal at R&R Partners, the advertising and consulting firm. The business communities in both Southern and Northern Nevada rely on immigrant labor, he said. "Not to mention the fact Nevada has a long history of immigration making gaming, mining and construction successful."

Immigration is a tough issue for Republicans nationally, as well, showing fissures usually unseen among the party's coalition, especially between the business community in need of immigrant labor and the party's more populist, white, working-class voters.

Otto Merida, executive director of the Latin Chamber of Commerce and a Republican, said he doesn't support the candidates' positions on immigration and that those positions may work against them with Hispanic voters.

"The hidden secret of this issue is that Hispanics are still not voting ... and don't have power at the polls. But there will be a price to pay eventually for their stance on this issue if these individuals are perceived to be against Hispanics.

"This will hurt them politically because I think they will be surprised at how many people become citizens in the future and vote."

Even if the issue can't do them great harm, it's distracting, said Republican strategists.

Steve Wark, a Republican consultant whose firm compiles extensive voter data, said immigration rarely comes up as a salient issue among voters.

Ernaut agreed. "I think the issue of illegal immigration is much like campaign finance reform or identity theft. If you ask someone about it, of course they'll say they're concerned. But compared to education, the economy, health care, it's not even close," he said.

Candidates who embrace it are off-message from issues that people care about, Wark and Ernaut said, especially given that immigration is a federal, not a state issue.

While Beers and Hunt came out for an English-only Nevada and a citizenship requirement for the Millennium Scholarship, Gibbons railed against undocumented immigrants not paying taxes.

"We have nontaxpaying people taking advantage of our porous borders and our government services," he said.

In fact, undocumented immigrants almost always pay some form of taxation, such as the state sales tax, which is applied on most purchases, according to Nevada Legal Services' Omar Companioni, coordinator of low-income taxpayer clinics. He said 85 percent of the people who have been through his clinics for tax help are illegal immigrants.

The U.S. Senate is debating legislation this week that Gibbons voted for in the House last year. Gibbons favors a temporary-worker program, his spokesman said.