COLUMBIA COUNTY GOP BLAMES ILLEGALS FOR METH EPIDEMIC

There are too many illegal immigrants in this country, and it's time
for elected officials to do something about it, Columbia County
Republicans are saying.

A resolution passed by the party's central committee last month
blamed immigrants for placing a burden on the social welfare system,
smuggling methamphetamine into the country and filling federal prisons.

"We will, as a voting block, support only candidates who are actively
pursuing the protection of our country and our rights as citizens of
the United States of America," the resolution states.

"This resolution is scary," said Marcy Westerling, board member of
Columbia County Citizens for Human Dignity, which recently sponsored
a bicyclist on the Freedom Ride for Immigrant Rights,

"We have to be careful when we talk about immigration." Westerling
said Monday. "We have a very, very poor history in this country of
using immigration in a racist and self-serving way. There are many
myths about immigrants."

Recent reports that methamphetamine is being smuggled into the United
States from Mexico and concerns about terrorists were among a number
of factors that inspired Republicans to pass the resolution, said Bob
Tosh of Clatskanie, a delegate to the state Republican convention and
county precinct member.

"We see more and more crime articles in the paper with Gomez,
Martinez, Ramirez, and whatever Hispanic name you might see," Tosh added.

"Do we deal with large amounts of illegals on a day-to-day basis in
Columbia County? No, we don't," said county undersheriff Gerry Simmons.

"There is a growing Hispanic population in Columbia County," Simmons
said, but there's no clear evidence that the new residents are
disproportionately illegal.

Although Tosh said he is concerned about Asian, Latino and Arab
immigrants to the United States, he also emphasized that the
resolution passed by his party does not single out any racial group.

"All of us who are Caucasian Americans are descendents of ...
immigrants," he said. "But with legal aliens, you know who's here and
that they're not some criminal that came from Mexico, escaped from
jail there and came over here and is raping 5-year-old babies."

"As we make it much more easy to do trade with the passage of NAFTA
and CAFTA, there is a human side to it," said Westerling, herself the
child of an illegal immigrant.

"We live in a global world," she said. "Whether you're talking labor,
whether you're talking terror, whether you're talking trade, we've
decided that all these borders are permeable."

Undersheriff Simmons predicted that more and more immigrants will
move to Columbia County.

Columbia County's populace was 94.4 percent white in 2000, the most
recent year made available by the U.S. Census.

"Look around, you're starting to see a few more black people here, a
few more Hispanics," Simmons said. "Things are changing."