Protesters: Put Down Your Signs (for Now) and Pick Up the Phone

New America Media, News Feature, Elena Shore, Posted: May 08, 2006

Editor's Note: As immigrant rights' activists took to the streets to demand rights for undocumented workers, anti-immigrant activists were calling their elected representatives in great numbers. Elena Shore writes and monitors Spanish-language media for New America Media.

SAN FRANCISCO--Immigrant rights' supporters -- who have taken to the streets in large numbers -- have yet to establish a strong communication link with their elected representatives.

When told by a Senate staffer that in recent weeks anti-immigrant phone calls have outnumbered pro-immigrant calls by at least 20 to one, Vincent Pan wasn't surprised.

"Many of the people affected by these proposals haven't felt well-served by their elected officials," says the executive director of the San Francisco civil rights advocacy organization Chinese for Affirmative Action. "People march and protest when they feel they aren't going to be heard in any other way."

But while immigrant rights' groups have focused on various forms of protests, anti-immigrant activists turned to the tried-and-true method of phone banking.

Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) reported receiving 749 telephone calls in the last week of March opposing legalization for undocumented immigrants, Peter Roper reported April 6 in the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper in Pueblo, Colo. The Senator only received 78 calls in support of immigration reform.

According to spokesperson Cody Wertz, the majority of the anti-legalization calls were scripted and seemed to be part of an organized effort. Salazar told the Senate on April 4 that he was also receiving racist e-mails, according to the Chieftain.

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., reported a similar ratio. "I'd have to say the calls are running at least 10-to-1 against," spokesperson Angela de Rocha told the Chieftain.

"These protests are waking up a sleeping giant -- the American middle class," says Susan Wysoki, spokesperson for the Washington, D.C.-based Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a national organization dedicated to stopping illegal immigration and reducing immigration levels. "Americans are outraged and that's why you're seeing a tremendous hike in activism."

FAIR encourages its 198,000 supporters to call lawmakers to voice their opposition to amnesty, and provides sample scripts for callers to use. Other conservative Web sites calling for people to contact senators include the John Birch Society, the Immigration Blog, the Welch Report, Federal Immigration Reform and Enforcement (FIRE) Coalition, Human Events and RightMarch.com.

Phone calls to legislators, unlike mass mailings, faxes or even e-mails, have the advantage of indicating where each person is calling from, and whether the caller is part of the lawmaker's congressional district. But the high number of anti-immigrant calls, which are sometimes angry and use racial slurs, could give legislators a skewed impression of their constituents.

Polls show that the majority of people wants comprehensive immigration reform, says Jenny Levy, manager of grassroots advocacy at the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), based in Washington, D.C. "The American public is not full of hate and fear; they don't want mass deportation," she says. "It's a very vocal minority."

"Those tied to (the anti-immigrant camp) tend to be much more passionately against immigration than those in the pro-immigrant camp, who are much larger, but less intense," says Douglas Rivlin, communications director for the National Immigration Forum.

"The anti-immigrant movement is based on fear and anger, and it's easier to call into Congress when you're angry," adds Levy.

The tactic of phone-banking is used by immigrant rights groups also: AILA encourages its members to call their senators and ask them to bring back the debate on immigration reform. Like the conservative Web sites, the organization provides background information and talking points.

But immigrant rights groups haven't been able to produce the high numbers of phone calls to their representatives. This needs to change if they want to get on the radar of their legislators and make their voices heard in Congress, says Pan.

"Despite our numbers and our commitment to this issue," Rivlin says, "it is hard to generate as many calls and letters as the highly motivated, well-financed, if numerically smaller number of people opposed to immigration reform."

Immigrant rights organizations have been more focused on organizing protests in the streets, according to Raquel Donoso, associate director of the public policy institute Latino Issues Forum in San Francisco, which wasn't directly involved in organizing protests but has been watching the debate carefully. This, combined with anti-immigrant groups' strong grassroots networks, has contributed to the high ratio of anti-immigrant phone calls, she says.

Even if they call in, elected representatives' staffers rarely provide operators who speak languages other than English. Other factors can make it harder for immigrants to call their legislators. Some can't make phone calls from their jobs during the day. Others simply aren't accustomed to direct access to political representatives and wouldn't know whom to call.

"I'm hoping (the protests) ignite more people to get involved in their communities, but also to become citizens and vote," Donoso says.

In fact, most of those who support immigration reform are not undocumented immigrants; they are average citizens who their legislators need to hear from. "I would venture to say that most of the people who marched in the May 1 protests are citizens," she says.

Phone calls may be seen as a more direct and traditional way to communicate with legislators, but that doesn't mean they are overriding the protests, says Pan, who points to the many elected officials who are currently trying to put together a more comprehensive immigration reform bill.

"One slogan of the protests is, 'Today we march, tomorrow we vote,'" says Pan. "But what's needed now is, 'Today we march, and tomorrow we call our elected officials.'"


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