“*When all else fails, blame the immigrants.*”
- Maria Cameron, President and CEO of Wisconsin’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Emotions ran high as a panel of five prominent figures in Wisconsin came together last Thursday afternoon to tackle the issue of “Immigration and the Economy,” hosted by the Minority Media Association in the Wisconsin room lounge.

Maria Cameron, President and CEO of Hispanic Chamber of Commerce-Wisconsin began the afternoon on a sarcastic note with her response to immigrants being the cause for current recessions.

“Absolutely, in addition to the war in Iraq, escalading fuel prices, home fore closures, terrorism etc.” Cameron said. “When all else fails, blame the immigrants.”

The rest of the panel was in agreement with Cameron that immigrants seem to be the easy target of blame for the recession. Ricardo Pimentel, columnist of the Arizona Republic, backed up Cameron by saying how recessions are part of a free economy.

“You don’t have a free economy without recessions, they slow down the growth to stabilize the economy and then ready for another spurt of growth,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel went on to say that the television and talk shows look for someone to blame for the recession and said, “Who easier to blame then immigrants because most of them don’t vote or are not eligible to vote.”

Disagreement on the panel arose when the issue of immigrants paying their fair share of taxes was addressed. Cameron went on to explain how undocumented immigrants are contributing to the U.S. economy in the taxes they pay.

“The consumer purchasing power of undocumented immigrants not only creates new jobs but also provides federal, state and local governments extra revenue through the sales income business property taxes,” Cameron said. “In other words the spending of undocumented immigrants has one economic multiplier effect.

Jay Weber, host of WISN Radio, believes that in order to answer the question, there needs to be a distinction of legal immigration and illegal immigration.

“If people are coming into America the right way and working towards citizenship, that’s one thing,” Weber said. “It’s something entirely different to claim the grand inequity or get angry if you came into the country illegal and somehow suggesting your being dumped upon.”

Cameron then emphasized the point that undocumented workers are not going to jeopardize everything to look for social services. Cameron said primary the focus isn’t on other immigrant groups, but is specifically set on the brown skin Mexican immigrant.

She then made a point in which the audiences applauded her for, alluding to the execution of a terrorist attack.

“We always forget there are two borders to this country, the terrorists didn’t come through the southern border, they came through the northern border,” Cameron said.

The anger people felt on the topic was evident as audience members took opportunities to express their frustration on how they are treated as immigrants in America. One audience member shared how he felt being a Hispanic immigrant, believing that he is looked at and treated as a terrorist.

The panel closed the discussion by agreeing that the way America deals with immigration by looking for reasonable solutions to a complex problem.

Pimentel also said that not only is the media not taking the real matters of what is going on, but we aren’t taking the time to read the information that is out there. “Reading habits are changing, viewing habits are changing, people are just reading what interests them,” Pimentel said. “The information is out there for you, but it’s not going to fall on your head.”

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