Arizona: Immigration and subprime mortage woes are widespread concerns
With subprime mortgage interest skyrocketing, many people in Arizona have lost their homes due to foreclosures. Working class communities are affected by these higher-interest loans, said the Rev. Oscar Tillman, president of the Maricopa County branch of the NAACP."Many of our people work every day two jobs to keep a roof over their heads." The issue of immigration is also important to Arizona voters. Tom Espinoza, president and CEO of National Council of La Raza Arizona, said anti-immigrant sentiment has affected both undocumented and documented Latinos.
Many politicians, he said, "don't realize [the immigration issue is] agitating Latino citizens who are probably going to vote against those who are adopting anti-immigrant positions." Somsangouane, president of the Arizona Asian American Association, said health care, education, and immigration are key issues facing Asian American communities. Many people are waiting for immigration papers to be approved in the United States, and many fear being deported. Immigration is not just a concern for Latino/Hispanic voters. "Down the line, we deal with same problems of any community, white, black, red or green," Tillman said. American Community Survey, Demographics for Arizona 2006 Latino Community
Interview: Tom Espinoza 1/29/08
Key Issues "The major challenge right now in Arizona is the immigration issue. It's increasing the discrimination against Latinos in general -- not just undocumented, but obviously Latinos with citizenship, second-, third- and fourth-generation Latinos. And obviously that causes a great deal of [inaudible] anger within our community -- how we're being perceived by various law enforcement and obviously the politics. Mayors of different cities have taken very anti-immigration positions, police departments that are basically pulling folks over because they're profiled as possibly undocumented because they're Latinos. The other issue is the housing issue. I think it really has a double impact. One is the interest rate going up on mortgages that were given to some of the Latino families that didn't realize that two years down the road the interests would kick up very high. And some folks are beginning to lose their homes. Then the other major issue is always in front of our community: education. ... In Latino-populated parts of the valley you still have a low educational achievement in the public school system. Those are three most major issues confronting our community." Politicians "You have some politicians who are obviously using the immigration issue here in Arizona, especially here in [the] Phoenix-Tucson area, as their banner of law and order. What they don't realize it's also agitating Latino citizens who are going to probably vote against those politicians who are adopting anti-immigrant positions. That's starting to show up. I'll give you a great example example: The governor of the state of Arizona, Janet Napolitano, just recently endorsed Obama for Democratic nomination for president. Obama was obviously appreciative. One of the comments he made was that he respected the strong immigration positions the governor put [out]. Some folks were insulted because he doesn't realize that in Arizona that's such a hot issue not only with Latinos who are undocumented but also with the Latinos who are U.S. citizens. So, I'm not sure if that really helped him, or how that's going to help him in Arizona. Then there are the smaller campaigns, in smaller cities, where it's getting folks registered. I think you're going to see a very high number of Latinos voting, primarily because of the anger on the immigration issue." African American Community Key Issues "Top of the list is education." "Losing homes. Many of our people work every day, two jobs to keep [a] roof over their heads. Because we all of a sudden had higher interest rates than our white counterparts, now our homes are being taken away -- homes our families owned many years because of bankruptcy." "Ties to third part, the economy. We need to get a handle. Basic jobs are being sent overseas." "Down the line, we deal with the same problems of any community, white, black, red or green. [The community is] looking for health care, economy and education. People are saying we want somebody to make a change." Asian American Community
Interview: 2/1/08 Key Issues addressed in this interview: Healthcare, education, and immigration are top concerns the Asian American communities in Arizona. Many people are waiting for papers to become legalized in the United States, and many are afraid of being deported.
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