And Sarah, this, from NumbersUSA.com's Chris Chmielenski (my CAPS added):

"A recent Politico story reveals how the 2012 Obama re-election team plans to use immigration as a wedge issue during next year’s presidential campaign. According to the article, the team is using results from a June Gallup poll that shows that the majority of Americans support a pathway to citizenship for the nation’s 11-18 million illegal aliens. But the re-election team is ignoring a major flaw in the poll question.

Here’s the quote from Pres. Obama’s re-election team as printed in the Politico piece:

'The Republican field has become increasingly out of step on immigration. While 64% of Americans believe the U.S. should allow undocumented immigrants to become citizens under certain conditions, the leading Republican candidates oppose a path to citizenship for immigrants [Gallup 6/12/11]. And a majority of Americans have consistently supported the DREAM Act, which the Republican candidates universally oppose at the federal level.'

The Gallup poll referenced by the campaign does show that 64% of Americans favor a pathway to citizenship for the 11-18 million illegal aliens living in the United States. BUT the poll ONLY presented respondents with a choice between mass deportations or a pathway to citizenship. As Roy pointed out during his interview on MSNBC this past weekend, NumbersUSA doesn’t support a policy of mass deportations.

The Obama re-election team should consider a poll conducted by Zogby in late-2009. They asked 42,026 adults (compared to the 1,020 adults surveyed by Gallup) to choose between a policy that included a pathway to citizenship or enforcing existing laws causing illegal aliens to return home over a period of time (ATTRITION THROUGH ENFORCEMENT). SIXTY-ONE percent of Americans chose the attrition through enforcement policy over a pathway to citizenship (26%).

In fact, the most significant piece of immigration legislation currently making its way through Congress – Chairman Smith’s Legal Workforce Act (H.R.2885) – is an attrition through enforcement approach. Gallup’s failure to offer poll respondents attrition through enforcement as an option is like asking them to choose between President Obama and Mickey Mouse in next year’s election. It simply doesn’t present all the different policy options, and instead presents as an alternative option and unlikely solution."

Still think Obama's "tough" on illegal immigration?

Not to mention the fact that both illegal invasion and legal immigration both conflict with a "greener" country so many liberal/progressives claim to want, to wit, this from Dave Gorak:

"The president has talked a lot since taking office about creating new energy guidelines, and the White House paid the usual lip service to Earth Day. But I’m wondering: How does this president square his energy and environmental concerns with his apparent willingness to continue fueling our population growth with a reckless immigration policy that benefits only vote-hungry politicians and companies fearful of losing their abundant supply of cheap foreign labor?

In other words, when those charged with establishing these “needed” energy guidelines that would include reducing greenhouse gases finally sit down and begin their calculations, will they take into account the Census Bureau’s population projections for 2100? Whichever Census projection one chooses to believe - 600 million or 1 billion – I’m thinking: Good luck!

Look at it this way: If for years it’s been nearly impossible to convince the American people that they must reduce what today is commonly known as their “carbon footprint,” just how much success will the federal government have in convincing millions more immigrants, especially those from impoverished countries, that they’re going to have to scale back their search for a better life? Will, for example, the government have to place limits on the number of children per household? Outlaw new homes exceeding a set number of square feet? And (gasp!) allow no more than two cars per family? How will all this work if the Congress refuses to deal with the central question?

Unless we get serious about cutting back legal immigration levels and removing all incentives for illegal immigration, then I think the gloomy forecast offered by George F. Kennan in his 1994 book “Around the Cragged Hill” will come to pass:

'It is obviously easier, for the short run, to draw cheap labor from adjacent pools of poverty…than to find it among one’s own people. And to the billions of such prospective immigrants from poverty to prosperity, there is, rightly or wrongly, no place that looks more attractive than the United States. Given its head, and subject to no restrictions, this pressure will find its termination only when the levels of overpopulation and poverty in the United States are equal to those of the countries from which these people are now so anxious to escape.' "

(DAVE GORAK is a retired career journalist and has been executive director of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration since 2001.)

Sarah, you are sadly mistaken if you think the Obama administration has not been rigging immigration enforcement to perpetuate MORE illegals remaining here, knowing they'll continue to change the electorate down the road as we continue to misinterpret the 14th Amendment and wave the magic citizenship wand over anyone lucky enough to pop out on our land, water, or in our airspace.

Their cute little "audits" were very laudable on their face, combing through the documents employers keep on file with their I-9's, and then telling the employer whose stuff didn't make the grade...leading to firings.

BUT THEY DIDN'T ARREST A SINGLE ONE!!!...as the Bush administration had at least done after their own attempt at amnesties from 2005-07 were turned back by us patriots!

So the illegal invaders could simply shuffle down the street to another illegal job.

Not to mention the Obama administration's latest pronouncement that prosecutors in deportation cases are to now use a "litmus" test of whether the person has relatives here, has served in military, or is relatively felony-free, and then use "discretion" in prosecuting these cases. TRANSLATION: Don't deport anyone who's not an axe-murderer! Internally, immigration enforcement agents and prosecutors have confirmed that this was more than just "advisement;" it was arm-twisting to allow more illegals to stay put.

Supply and demand, people. Take away the supply of cheap, illegal labor, and even the supply of cheap high-tech labor that is allowed in "legally" whenever Bill Gates testifies to Congress he needs more foreign computer engineers, and the demand for all positions previously held by foreigners will go up, thereby increasing wages, salaries, benefits, and conditions in those jobs. Will you pay more for a computer or a head of lettuce?...yes. Will any company price itself out of you eventually buying it?...no.

Go to NumbersUSA.com for the best education on what we face in America today as a country that's already the most generous on the face of the earth with helping other countries and taking in more immigrants than anyone else...and how it STILL will never solve the world's problems and will only ruin what was, and still basically is, a great country.

*Also how many Hmongs live here? Why no article?*

Probably because there's no phone menu, anywhere, that says "Press 2 for Hmong".

Also, there's never been a protest march/riot anywhere in America where thousands of illegal Hmong aliens marched with the flag of whatever SE Asian nation under which they used to live while demanding that the native population bend to their every whim.

* unless we are 100% Native American... we are essentially all immigrants.*

There is no such thing as a native to the North American continent. The American Indians walked across the Bering Land Bridge.

Mexicans, you are welcome to come to USA, just do it legally. Any business that hires an Illegal alien should face stiff fines.

What is there to understand? We are ALL immigrants of some kind. I hope this isnt a sympathy article for illegals. Also how many Hmongs live here? Why no article?

"Native Americans" came from Asia.

In 1970 we lived in Waukesha. The company I worked for hired a Hispanic man and wife team to clean the offices. Ten years after I left I dropped in that office and asked about Rudy and Dora. I learned that they had started their own cleaning company and worked at many businesses and had several people working for them. That really seems like the American Way. I don't know if they were legal or not, but they sure were hard workers and they raised some nice kids.

Amazingly not as many bigoted comments as I thought.

This series is long overdue. And the Hispanic population is very often misunderstood.

What people who have bad things to say about this series... unless we are 100% Native American... we are essentially all immigrants.

One of the issues that will form President Obama’s infamy will be the high unemployment due to his lack of enforcement of illegal alien laws. There’s just something illegal about illegal aliens.

Yes, even if the entire population of America eventually became Hispanic, the language will be English, probably with some traces of Spanish. Peaceful population influx sooner or later takes on the characteristics of the population in-place at the time of the first wave of the influx.

Johnny - Another fun fact from the series: Modern immigrants are learning English much faster than immigrants of the 19th and early 20th centuries. “Even in places with huge Spanish-speaking populations, they are doing everything they can to learn English,” one expert said.
Scott Angus

In the print there is a guy in the ad that says when these articles will print. I believe that is "Max" from Los Amigos. Used to have La Esquienta too. He is a good guy.

I don't care what country a person comes from as long as they do it legally, learn to read, write, and understand English. If I was to move to another country that didn't speak English I would be required to learn the language of that country. This is the United States of America, I should not be required to press 1 for English!

It would be nice if there could be understanding by all on this difficult subject. One blogger suggests they would quit the paper if published in spanish, I say it would be a great idea to also publish in spanish, then both sides of the issue could learn and understand how this Country came to be and how our constitution has been trampled.

Cardtrader - Interesting tidbits from the series suggesting that things aren't always as they seem:
- The Obama administration has deported more than 1 million immigrants who don’t have legal papers.
- Statistics from both sides of the border suggest that illegal immigration from Mexico is in fast retreat.
That and much more make "Changing Face of America" a fascinating, informative read.
Scott Angus

In the good old days under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, with a deportation system relying on Special Inquiry Officers for hearings, the federal government was able actually to deport, voluntarily return or scare off possibly over 1 million illegal aliens from Mexico over about a year during Operation Wetback. In Texas, the federal government deported illegal aliens on trucks, busses and even by ship from South Texas to the port of Veracruz, Mexico, in 1954.

I think it is time for a second running of Operation Wetback

Scott Angus...Thanks for doing this, I look forward to reading the articles.I have a feeling it will alter my opinions about immigration, and I'm open to that.

BillN - Thanks for reminding me that it's been so long since I blogged. Not retired, just busy Tweeting, writing columns and running a newsroom and a website. I do need to blog more - in my spare time.
Scott Angus

I have never had a problem with hispanics being here LEGALLY! I wish to brush up on my Spanish. I feel bad for not doing so.
If here illegally I do NOT agree with them living off of the government. Free health care, free school. People say "they spend that money here" really with 5 families in one home and they send LOTS of cash back to Mexico.
Do it legally!

Hi Scott! Did you realize that it's been 15 months since you last posted on your blog? I was starting to think you had retired or something.

This is hard for me to admit, but Gazettefan has a point! (Ouch! That hurt!) If it weren't for Hispanic workers (illegal or not) being willing to take a lot of these jobs, there wouldn't be many takers for them. Look at some of the attitudes displayed in the comments about all those Generac jobs that the Gazette has run stories on of late. Generac employs many Hispanics. I remember one comment posted about Generac's newly announced hiring plans was "Did they bust all the illegals working there?" or something to that effect. It seems that many of us feel that if Hispanics are employed in any number in a type of job or by an employer, it can't be a good job.

What happened to the respect that honest work used to have? We used to admire people for working hard and doing the best they can do, even if they didn't sit at a desk for a living. It seems that many only respect some type of work now. Other types are beneath them, as are those who would take such jobs.

And where did the idea that all Hispanics can be assumed to be illegal come from? I don't think that's all attributable to bigotry, but it's getting harder and harder to tell when it isn't.

Chasenbabe - To be honest, we enabled comments on this blog as a small test of what the tone would be. We'd like to allow comments on at least part of the series, but we're wary of what people might say. We haven't decided what to do, but I'm reasonably pleased with the content and civility of these comments.
Scott Angus

sangus..if you started printing the Gazette in Spanish as well as English, that would be the last time I would read the Gazette. Enough is enough. We are not Little Mexico, at least not yet. And before anyone says I am prejudiced, etc, I volunteer with Hispanic children in an after school program.

Angus...why wasn't article blocked for customer comment? 99% of your stories are restricted for comment. Under your leadership the Gazette is just an inmature immitation of a newspaper! SHAME ON YOU!

officer: thanks for reminding me of the humor behind self deporting. http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/...

It's cheap labor because American workers priced themselves out of the market.

*Ethnicity always falls by the wayside, reduced to no more than empty ritual or almost empty ritual. Consider the dreaded Irish. *

The "dreaded" Irish couldn't simply WALK here. We've been invaded--and lost--and no one even put up a fight because they could get cheap labor out of the invaders.

I think to distribute them separately means they would have to be purchased separately, and that there'd be no viable market for the Spanish edition. Nor would it be profitable to include the Spanish edition in the English edition.

To those who are worried about the changing face of America, know this: Immigrants always sooner or later embrace whatever the American way is -including the English language -hence no Spanish edition necessary. Ethnicity always falls by the wayside, reduced to no more than empty ritual or almost empty ritual. Consider the dreaded Irish. The feared Irishness has been reduced to converting a religious holiday to a glorified drinking binge. Not only harmless, but meaningless, too. And who eats mulligan stew? Even they don't.

Embracing the marketplace and embracing the marketplace of ideas is what all groups have done here, sooner or later.

We don't have the resources to remove them all. My thought is, make them legal residents, and have them pay a fine/fee. If it takes them $5,000 to pay to a coyote to get here, make them pay a fine of say $10-20,000 over a period of years. And not citizenship, let them go through the regular process for an immigrant. Maybe require the learn English as well.
There is no way I can see of compassionately removing them from the country. Of course, any felony is an automatic kick out of the country, as it is now for legal resident aliens.

ImBack - It's not that simple. Series is already stretching size of daily - it's hundreds of inches. Sections must match up. It gets complicated ... and expensive.
Scott Angus

How many boxcars of trains are needed to remove them? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/us/02i... says there are over 11 million of them.

We discussed translating the stories but don't plan to do so at this time. For one, we simply ran out of time and resources. Translating and editing would be a huge undertaking given the amount of copy. Two, we'd have to print and distribute the stories in Spanish separately. That's additional work and expense. Finally, the series is more intended to promote understanding outside the Mexican-American community.
Scott Angus

The number of jobs held by illegal aliens roughly equals the reported number of unemployed in this country.

What are the jobs that illegals have that natural born citizens want?

Being of a liberal bent as the Gazette is, I bet they will print the series in Spanish.

Thank you for sponsoring this.

The irony is that someone can enter the country illegaly, face all the challenges from not speaking english, no documentation, face injury and even death, and still end up getting a job and supporting their family-which is usually extended.....and yet we have people here in JVL that just can't seem to find work.....

I can't wait. (No puedo esperar).

Wait...here it comes....let the bigotry remarks begin.

At least our Federal, State, and local governments are prepared for the "changing face of America"... they adopted the "Mañana" attitude generations ago. ☺