Council Candidates in Valley Denounce Illegal Immigration

In their first public debate, candidates for the Los Angeles City Council seat in the largely Latino 7th District decried illegal immigration and called for deportation of undocumented aliens who commit crimes.

“The days of open borders are over,” said Ray Magana, who is himself an immigrant from Mexico. “We need to take care of our own economic needs.”

“If it’s illegal, I’m opposed to it,” declared Richard Alarcon at the debate Monday night in Lake View Terrace. To immigrants who commit crimes, he said, “If your contribution is negative, you’re not welcome here.”

Added Lyle Hall, “I don’t think defining our borders makes us racist.”

The candidates’ stance was seen as unusual in the northeastern San Fernando Valley district, which is 70% Latino and where support for immigrants’ rights has traditionally been strong.

According to political consultant Parke Skelton, the Latino community “is generally more tolerant on immigration issues than the Anglo community is,” and tends to be skeptical of politicians who stress immigration issues.

But the candidates’ words might be better understood in the context of the district’s voter rolls. While Latinos make up about 70% of the area’s population, they constitute only 31% of its registered voters. Anglos, at 48%, are the biggest voting bloc. African-Americans make up 19%.

“They’re going after the non-Latino, actually white, middle-class vote,” said Jaime Regalado, a professor of political science at Cal State Los Angeles and director of the Edmund G. Brown Institute of Public Affairs.

“It’s very unfortunate, but I think there’s some opportunism here.”

“They’re playing to the demographics of the voters, rather than the demographics of the residents,” Skelton said. “The majority of voters are old white people in that district.”

Participating in the event, which was sponsored by the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn. and attracted an audience of 250, were candidates Magana, Alarcon, Hall, Henry Villafana, LeRoy Chase, Anne Finn and Albert Dib.

Irene Tovar, who was disqualified from the ballot for having too few signatures on her petitions but is challenging the ruling, also took part.

Only Finn, the widow of former Councilman Howard Finn, and Tovar, a longtime activist in the northeast San Fernando Valley, hesitated to criticize illegal immigrants.

Tovar said the United States “has never had a good immigration policy and has never dealt with this issue properly.”

None of the candidates criticized a recent statement by Dib that he could tell whether people were illegal by looking at them. Like his fellow candidates, Dib also called for tougher enforcement of immigration laws, along with stiffer sentences for drug, gang and graffiti-related offenses.

Chase, director of the Pacoima-based Boys & Girls Club of the San Fernando Valley, said it might be time to give up on some teen-aged gang members, who he said are “hardened criminals.”

“That’s why we’re building prisons,” Chase said.

Consultant Skelton said the candidates were simply saying what they thought the voters wanted to hear.

However, Paul Clarke, a corporate political consultant who is considered a conservative, said that while they probably are trying to appeal to the registered voters, the candidates might also be expressing legitimate concerns.

To be sure, many Latinos have come to believe that illegal immigration has become a drag on the economy, Clarke said.

“Those who are here legally are as resentful of those who are here illegally as someone from the Anglo community or the black or Oriental community,” he said.