Experts: Man’s immigration status to inflame closed-border stance
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2951
Yvonne Wingett
The Arizona Republic
As Chandler residents regroup following a man’s arrest in the rapes that terrorized the city for 18 months, immigration advocates are bracing for the angry tide over illegal immigration to wash over the Valley again.
From talk radio to lunch-time talk, Santana Batiz Aceves’ status as a Mexican national who was deported twice before his weekend arrest in the “Chandler Rapist” case will be cited by both those who advocate a hard-line stance on immigration and those who are sympathetic to the plight of undocumented immigrants.
Experts agree that as details of the reported series of attacks on young girls emerge, they will harden the public’s attitude toward illegal immigrants – especially because assaults against children are among the worst types of crimes, they say. “A single incident like this pushes the debate about smart, thoughtful immigration policies to the side,” said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank. “There will be no room, there will be no oxygen for rational conversation about immigration as long as the headlines dominate about this horrible incident. People don’t forget these kinds of incidents. They may move on, but they don’t forget.”
Genevieve Quezada Sanders hoped the man believed to be the serial rapist wasn’t an undocumented immigrant.
The Chandler grandmother of teen girls was afraid that another illegal immigrant suspected of committing another high-profile crime in the Valley would further deteriorate the nasty debate over illegal immigration. She was angry to learn that Batiz Aceves was back in the country and is believed to be the Chandler Rapist.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/0114rapes-immigration0114.html