Blog Highlights Negative Impact Of Immigrant Labor

Page 1 Blog highlights negative impact of immigrant labor The Herald-Sun (Durham, North Carolina) September 18, 2007 Tuesday

The Herald-Sun (Durham, North Carolina) Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News September 18, 2007 Tuesday

Blog highlights negative impact of immigrant labor BYLINE: Remy Scalza, The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C. SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS LENGTH: 938 words Sep. 18--CHAPEL HILL -- Suzanne Cameron, the voice behind a Chapel Hill blog on immigration issues, wants to make one thing clear: she is not a racist. "We are not anti-immigration. We are anti-illegal immigration," she said. Started in March 2006, Cameron's blog -- "Illegal Immigration News in Chapel Hill" (chapelhillblog.blogspot.com) -- weaves together articles from local and national newspapers, amateur video clips and her own commentary to paint a stark picture of the impact of undocumented immigrants on the community. "The primary reason for the blog is we feel the local media is biased toward sugarcoating the problem," Cameron said. "We provide an alternative and get lots of local hits and e-mail interest." Cameron, who is a construction contractor, also has a personal stake in the debate. Widespread use of low-paid immigrant workers by competitors has undermined her business, she acknowledged. Attracting up to 1,000 visitors a day, her blog highlights the impact of immigrant labor and other problems that immigration advocates in Chapel Hill overlook, Cameron said. Aside from the economics of immigration, the blog also covers proposed legislation and concerns about rising crime in the undocumented immigrant community. Content ranges from carefully researched reports to more sensational claims. "Illegal alien gang banger executes high school kids!" a recent post reads. Another warns: "Illegal alien pedophiles continue to swarm over our unprotected borders!" Readers need to take these stories with a grain of salt, said Johanna Cabeza, program director at El Centro Latino, a Hispanic advocacy group in Carrboro. "I think people have to be careful when they read this news," Cabeza said. "People with an open mind are going to understand that it's not all true. But some people are just going to hear what they want to hear." Cameron, who spends a few hours every week updating her blog, said her concerns about undocumented immigrants grew out of frequent trips to Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley in California. "We have been visiting for 30-plus years and have seen the decline," she said. "Four and five families living in the houses, Mexican flags all over, all-Spanish billboards and speakers in public places, gang graffiti and related murders." Over time, Cameron said she began to see "a similar decline in parts of North Carolina at a much more rapid pace." The demographic changes wrought by immigration have been dramatic. During the 1990s alone, the Latino population in North Carolina nearly quadrupled, according to U.S. Census data. In recent years, it has grown to more than 600,000 people, or seven percent of the total state population. Forty-five percent of the Hispanic population is undocumented. By March 2006, Cameron decided she had seen enough. She started her blog to sound the alarm and network with illegal immigration opponents. Her frustrations as a construction contractor have also fueled her blogging.

Page 2 Blog highlights negative impact of immigrant labor The Herald-Sun (Durham, North Carolina) September 18, 2007 Tuesday "Some of our competitors use illegal aliens, and [that] affects bidding for jobs, our livelihood and our employees' livelihood," she said. A 2006 study from UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School reflects Cameron's concerns. While lauding the cost-saving benefits of immigrant labor, the report also notes that Hispanics filled one in three new jobs created in North Carolina from 1995 to 2005 and currently make up 29 percent of the total construction labor force. The poorest segments of the population -- including members of the black community -- have been especially hardhit, Cameron said. "At a time of high unemployment in the African-American community in Durham, [undocumented immigration] is adding to its unemployment problems," she said. An Aug. 2 report from The Economist, a national business magazine, offers a similar assessment. "As parts of Durham begin to resemble south-central Los Angeles, tensions between blacks and Latinos can only increase," the report concludes. But claims of competition between American workers and immigrants miss the bigger picture, said Cabeza of El Centro Latino. "In a lot of these industries, it's impossible to find local workers," Cabeza pointed out. "People from around here don't want to work for $6 or $7 an hour." Lucila Vargas, a professor at UNC's journalism school and Latino activist, also warns against generalizing. "It's a very complex issue," she said. "In some areas immigrants do lower wages. But they have also revitalized towns that are dying." For Cameron, however, any economic benefit to North Carolina from undocumented immigration is outweighed by the collateral costs. Increased gang and criminal activity, overburdened hospitals and declining public schools are all consequences of the immigrant influx, she said. By drawing attention to these issues with her blog, she hopes to pressure local and state officials to take action. "The simple answer is to enforce existing laws," Cameron said. For Vargas, who has spent a decade studying media portrayals of Latinos, Cameron's blog offers a distinct perspective, though not always an informed one, the professor said. "It's certainly contributing a voice that the general media does not," she said. "But my main concern is the lack of context." To see more of The Herald-Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald-sun.com. Copyright (c) 2007, The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. LOAD-DATE: September 18, 2007 LANGUAGE: ENGLISH ACC-NO: 20070918-DR-Blog-highlights-negative-impact-of-immigrant-labor-0918 PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper JOURNAL-CODE: DR Copyright 2007 The Herald-Sun