Hispanic lawmakers get angry calls

WASHINGTON — Before Rep. Luis Gutierrez could wrap up a recent round of appearances on conservative talk shows, some angry callers were lighting up the switchboard in his Washington office and demanding the seven-term congressman go back to Mexico.

Gutierrez, D-Ill., was born in Chicago and is of Puerto Rican descent.

"Some of them are pretty ugly phone calls," said Gutierrez, chairman of the Democratic Caucus Immigration Task Force and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration Task Force. "Given the heated nature of the debate and some of the things elected officials say ... it's like the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree."

The immigration debate in Congress has stirred passions on both sides of the issue, and Gutierrez and other Hispanic lawmakers say they have been the target of anti-immigrant phone calls and e-mails.

Some of the calls to lawmakers have been mean-spirited and insulting, they say. But they add that while they listen to the phone messages and read the electronic correspondence, the ugly sentiment doesn't dampen their efforts to change the nation's immigration policies.

"We listen to all of it ... but it doesn't change the course we're going to take in this debate," said Gutierrez, who has co-sponsored measures that would allow illegal immigrants to work in the United States temporarily and get on the path to citizenship.

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., also in the forefront of the immigration debate, says he, too, has received nasty calls and e-mails.

Salazar said he has been accused of being involved with the issue only because of his Mexican-American background. Yet, he said, his family has farmed the same land in southern Colorado for 150 years, and his family founded Santa Fe, N.M., 408 years ago.

"We've been a part of the American landscape and its history before Plymouth Rock and Jamestown," he said. "So when people accuse me of violating immigration laws ... they're just plain wrong."

In recent weeks, Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., the only Hispanic on the House Judiciary immigration subcommittee, has received three red bricks, each wrapped in a note telling the congresswoman to use the brick to help build a wall along the Mexican border. None of them came from her district, spokesman Jim Dau said.

"We see a lot of these gimmicks, some more clever than others," Dau said. "This is such a big complicated issue. We're all for free speech, but this doesn't take the place of intelligent conversation."

Senators back plan

for border troops

WASHINGTON — The Senate signaled overwhelming support Monday for President Bush's plan to dispatch National Guard troops to states along the Mexican border.

No tour of duty could last longer than 21 days and troops would be excluded from "search, seizure, arrest or similar activity." They would support the Border Patrol, which has primary responsibility for intercepting illegal immigrants.

The vote was 83-10 on an amendment by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., to authorize governors to order their states' National Guard units to perform annual duty training in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona or California. Administration officials have said Bush has the authority needed to deploy the Guard, making the vote a largely symbolic show of support.

The Associated Press