Liberal Latino Wants Tougher Immigration Law

Vlae Kershner, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
The San Francisco Chronicle
JULY 13, 1993, TUESDAY, FINAL EDITION

One of California's most prominent minority elected officials yesterday joined the growing chorus of politicians urging immigration reform when he came out in favor of tighter restrictions on both legal and illegal immigration.

Senator Art Torres, D-Los Angeles, said he would even support a moratorium on legal immigration, ''as long as civil and constitutional rights are protected.''

The government ''must be more restrictive in terms of our legal and illegal immigration because it will create a drain on our economic and physical resources in the state of California,'' Torres told a Capitol news conference.

The comments were unexpected because the liberal Torres is regarded as a champion of immigrants' civil rights. He is the chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee and is a possible candidate for insurance commissioner next year.

His remarks came at a press conference to disclose the findings of a Senate Office of Research report, which indicated that immigrants are not particularly heavy users of welfare services.

Responding to a reporter's question, Torres said he could support a moratorium on immigration while a thorough review is conducted on the effects of immigration on the economy and environment.

He said the best long-term solution to the immigration problem is to improve the standard of living in other parts of the hemisphere. He endorsed the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said could reduce pressures for immigration by improving job opportunities in Mexico. President Clinton is expected to submit the trade deal with Mexico and Canada to Congress for ratification this fall. The agreement could be stalled by a U.S. federal judge's ruling that an environmental impact report is required.

Torres also cited concerns about the effects of immigration on population growth. ''We need to be aware and respectful of the resources we have in this state because there is (only) so much land that can be developed,'' he said.

REFORMS BLOCKED

Legislation aimed at making it more difficult for illegal immigrants to find work or receive public services has been routinely blocked by Democrats in the Legislature. But with the issue heating up and Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., making a big issue out of immigration in Washington, the Sacramento Democrats may not want to be left behind, said Ric Oberlink of Californians for Population Stabilization, a group that wants broad cuts in legal immigration.

It's good to hear the state's Democrats reacting to the pressures from the public,'' he said.

A second leading Latino legislator, Assemblyman Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, also supports an immigration moratorium, a spokeswoman for Polanco said.

John Gamboa, executive director of the Latino Issues Forum in San Francisco, said: ''I don't think Art Torres is that far off with the views of our community.'' He noted that the sentiment that legal immigration levels are too high ''builds up antagonism for the immigrants who are already here.''

The immigration study, conducted by California State Library demographer Hans Johnson, indicated that legal immigration to the state has steadily increased since Congress passed new immigration laws in 1986 and 1990, reaching a record 203,000 in 1991.

LURE OF JOBS

Undocumented migration to the state is much more sensitive to job opportunities. It peaked in the boom year of 1989 at 181,000, then fell to 77,500 in recession-plagued 1991, according to the study, which used different methodology than the official state estimate that 100,000 more undocumented immigrants enter than leave each year.

The survey also showed that only 3.8 percent of immigrants who arrived before 1990 receive public assistance, slightly lower than the 4.1 percent rate for households headed by citizens who have been in the state more than five years. For immigrants who arrived during the 1980s, the welfare rate was 4.8 percent.

In addition, the study showed that immigrants receive Social Security benefits at a much lower rate than native-born citizens, which is not surprising because immigrants are generally young.

These data show immigrants are motivated, hard-working members of our communities who do not deserve any assumption they were attracted to this country by our welfare system,'' Torres said.

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