Arizonans reject ‘racist’ label over new immigration law

CHANDLER, Ariz. — Christine Vollmecke has one thing to say to people calling Arizona racist for passing the toughest law against illegal immigration in the nation: You don’t know what we’re going through.

There are constant reports on television of criminals smuggling migrants. On April 30,
a sheriff’s deputy patrolling the desert was wounded in a shootout with
suspected drug traffickers. Vollmecke says she is too scared to visit
the southern part of the state anymore.

“I don’t think I’m racist. I don’t think the vast
majority of us are racist,” the 57-year-old realtor said. “I just want
to feel safe in my own state.”

Arizona’s law, signed by Gov. Jan Brewer last month, makes it a state crime to lack immigration papers and
requires police to determine whether people are in the country legally.
It’s sparked national calls for boycotts, protest marches across the
country and biting cartoons that compare the state to Nazi Germany.

Chandler
is the sort of comfortable, conservative suburb that politicians point
to when they claim broad local support for the law — 70 percent of
likely voters backed it in one statewide poll. Even here, though,
there’s a wide range of opinions on the merits of the law.

Chandler is a prototypical Phoenix
suburb — stucco subdivisions, golf courses, shopping centers and lots
of palm and palo verde trees. Residents say it’s more than just crime
that causes them to be unhappy about illegal immigrants.

Jessica Lonkard, 30, noted that developers are trying
to sell new condominiums in the town’s faded downtown. “They have 50
day laborers on every street corner every day,” she said. “How are they
going to sell those?”

Her husband, Nick, added that the law may be “a
little drastic” but it could allow authorities to go round up day
laborers at, say, the local Home Depot without bothering Latinos who are citizens.

“I don’t like racial profiling,” he said, then paused. “I guess I do.” He concluded: “Something’s got to be done.”

David Padilla used those exact same words to describe
his thoughts on the immigration mess. But the 47-year-old garbage
collector and U.S. citizen fears police will now be focused on Latinos
like himself.

“I don’t want to have to carry around my passport,”
he said. “(But) something’s got to be done; you can’t have people just
running back and forth across the border.”

Arizona became the most popular illegal crossing point in the nation in the late 1990s, after increased security on the California
border drove migrants east. Crime has steadily dropped here despite
that influx, but the same routes used by illegal immigrants looking for
work are also used by drug smugglers. Despite the numbers showing the
state is becoming safer, many Arizonans believe crime is on the rise.

Stephanie De La Ossa grew up near the border in southern Arizona,
and remembers how eerie it was to have strangers running through the
yard, speaking another language. She’s married to a Latino man and said
those who accuse Arizona of racism are wrong.

“A lot of people haven’t lived in this state,” she
said of the critics. “They’re making it into a race issue, but for the
normal, law-abiding citizen it’s not.”

Critics and supporters of the new law do agree on at least one point — the rest of the country needs to stop hating on Arizona.

“I feel sad for Arizona. We’re always looked on as cowboy and backwards,” said Malcolm Hartnell,
59, a teacher who opposes the law. His son-in-law, of Filipino descent,
is constantly pulled over by law enforcement officers who are trying to
find illegal immigrants. “But Arizona is really a great place to live.”

Gjergi Mihilli, owns Mamma Mia, a shop at the southern edge of Chandler’s
downtown that caters to Latino immigrants. He argues the immigrant
influx has been good for the city’s economy and safety. “When Ronald Reagan was president he gave amnesty to 10 million Mexicans,” said Mihilli, an immigrant from Italy. “The colors of the flag of this country did not change.”

He, too, is dismayed by the reaction of the country to Arizona’s new law — but only because he fears the backlash will devastate the economy. He cited a Chicago friend who called him after the law was passed and asked: “What’s going on in Arizona?”

It was more than a bout of friendly ribbing. The man
is in the hotel industry and was looking to open new locations in the
state. He has since decided the atmosphere is too toxic and is staying
away, Mihilli said.

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