**Previously Recorded by Phyllis Schlafly**
When Hispanics are asked what issues they care most about, immigration usually ranks only fifth. Hispanics who come from countries where big government is a permanent fact of life and where the economic systems are based on bribery are unlikely prospects for the Republican message of limited government and cuts in government spending. John McCain, the loudest advocate of amnesty in 2006 and 2007, got only 31% of the Hispanic vote when he ran for president in 2008. Any amnesty plan, no matter how it is dressed up, is a formula for bringing in more people who support big-government and big-spending policies.
A couple of coalitions have formed to try to convince religious groups that amnesty is a manifestation of Christian compassion to welcome the stranger. In fact, amnesty betrays the immigrants by forcing them to compete with a steady stream of new immigrants and guest workers, thereby insuring that they will never be able to rise out of poverty and achieve the American dream.
This was well understood by the famous advocate for the rights of Hispanic immigrants, Cesar Chavez. Long deceased, he is still such a Hispanic icon that the National Education Association (NEA), year after year, passes a resolution calling for a national holiday to honor Cesar Chavez, and it’s already a state holiday in California. Chavez was vehemently opposed to illegals coming across the Mexican border because they took jobs from legal immigrants. He ordered union members to call the Immigration and Naturalization Service and report illegals so our government could deport them. Chavez offered staff to the INS to serve as volunteer border guards to keep Mexicans from sneaking into the U.S.
