The newest member of Arkansas' congressional delegation is the state's first to join a caucus of congressmen pushing for stricter immigration laws. U.S. Rep. John Boozman, the Republican elected in November to represent Arkansas' 3rd District, last week joined the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, whose 56 members are calling for stepped-up border security.

The caucus grew from 15 members to its current number on a wave of concern after September's terrorist attacks, but Boozman said he and his constituents considered immigration policies a top concern before Sept. 11. "Immigration certainly is something very much on the mind of the people in the 3rd District," Boozman said.

The immigrant population in Northwest Arkansas exploded in the 1990s, with mostly Mexican immigrants arriving to work in poultry and construction jobs in the growing region. Springdale's and Rogers' Hispanic populations grew from less than a blip on the map to about 20 percent of the cities' populations, according to the 2000 Census. Boozman is from Rogers.

The congressman said he's admired the way the region's population has handled the rapid change.

"We've assimilated a lot of different people, and we've worked very hard at doing that, and I'm proud of the efforts we've had," said Boozman, a former Rogers School Board member.

Illegal immigration is another matter, he said.

"Those that are here illegally, we need to send home," he said.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated last year that as many as 8 million immigrants are living in the United States illegally, but the figures don't break down to show particular states' numbers. The Immigration and Naturalization Service estimated in 1996 that Arkansas had 5,400 illegal immigrants, but many more immigrants have arrived since then.

In joining the caucus, Boozman embraced the main campaign theme of his Republican primary opponent, state Sen. Gunner DeLay, R-Fort Smith. The leader of the caucus even stumped for DeLay last year, when the lawmaker was vying for the Republican nomination in a special election. U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., chairman of the caucus, visited Rogers in July to co-host a public forum on immigration reform.

Tancredo founded the caucus in May 1999, but its membership went largely unnoticed until 19 terrorists -- most of them on temporary immigrant visas -- converted commercial jetliners into mass murder weapons in September. Six of the terrorists entered the United States without a trace of paperwork, said Lara Kennedy, Tancredo's spokesman. Three received driver's licenses in Virginia illegally, she said.

After the attacks, Tancredo began recruiting new members and found his fellow congressmen more willing to join. Kennedy said the group was always bipartisan but mainly Republican. It remains so, with 48 Republicans, six Democrats and one independent.

The caucus last year adopted a 14-point reform outline for combating terrorism, which in part calls for:

Creation of a unified Border Security Agency, which would include responsibilities handled by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the State Department, U.S. Customs and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Establishment of an interagency database to conduct background checks on visa applicants. The outline also calls for foreign students to be tracked in a database and for the cooperation of colleges and universities.

Acceleration of the timetable requiring foreign visitors to leave the country. Use of political ideology as grounds for exclusion and/or deportation. A six-month moratorium on the issuance of visas.

The caucus also pushes for legislation to deny American citizenship to the American-born children of illegal aliens and to reduce the overall number of immigrants allowed into the country each year by limiting some of the admission categories.

Members of Congress team up in such groups to bolster causes with their strength in numbers, from racial and ethnic groups to issue-related causes.

Boozman's press secretary, Patrick Creamer, said the congressman is a member of several issue groups, including the House Rural Health Care Coalition, the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, the Congressional Steel Caucus, the Congressional Sportsman Caucus, the Law Enforcement Caucus, the Education Caucus and the Results Caucus, which has a goal to reduce the size and cost of government.

Boozman said it wasn't difficult for Tancredo to persuade him to join the immigration caucus. Members of the diverse caucus don't all think alike on the issue, Boozman said. Some want no immigration, some want to enforce laws that already exist and some want to strengthen those laws.

"I would be one of those in favor of strengthening immigration laws and providing more funding so people that are trying to administer those laws have the ability to do that," he said. Boozman said he'd also like to see English adopted as the official U.S. language.

"That's the fabric that binds us all together," he said. He said he gets "a lot of mail" every week from constituents concerned about immigration.

"One reason Gunner DeLay did as well as he did in the primary was people are concerned about immigration," Boozman said. "They are not all -- some of them are extremists -- but most are just good people who are concerned about the enforcement of laws."

© Copyright 2002 Arkansas Democrat-Gazzette

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SPRINGDALE -- The city's rapid growth has been a blessing and a curse to Mayor Jerre Van Hoose during his three years in office, he said in his annual state of the city address Tuesday.

About 6,000 new residents have bolstered the city's population to 50,000, creating revenues for a new library, street improvements and police officers, Van Hoose said. New residents have also placed increased demands on city services, and the city's revenues aren't rising fast enough to meet them, he said.

"So what is the state of our city? Is it great or is it awful?" Van Hoose asked a crowd at the Harvey and Bernice Jones Center for Families. "It is probably somewhere in between."

Van Hoose, who announced his intention to run for re-election in November, reviewed some of the factors that have played a role in his decision making since taking office in January 1999. The city's population is growing 4.5 percent a year, he said, while city revenues are going up just 2.8 percent a year.

The city needs to keep up with a growing population by hiring more city employees, he said. The revenue shortage has allowed the city to hire only 17 new employees, 14 of which are police officers, in three years. "All other departments have basically had a hiring freeze," Van Hoose said.

Van Hoose outlined plans to improve city services. He said he will enlist residents to come up with ideas to attract retail businesses to Springdale. Sales-tax revenue, which accounted for almost half of city revenues last year, hasn't been meeting projections and isn't growing as fast as the need for services, Van Hoose has said. Much of the recent retail construction in Northwest Arkansas has occurred in Fayetteville and Rogers. State law limits how much cities can raise property taxes, Springdale's other principal revenue source. The city has had to pay $700,000 for its portion of a settlement for a lawsuit that charged Springdale and other government entities with exceeding the property-tax limit set by state law, Van Hoose said. Van Hoose also said he will ask the City Council to review financing plans for three new east-west roads, including improvements to Wagon Wheel Road and Huntsville Avenue. The plans will require tax increases and have to be approved by voters, Van Hoose has said. The City Council voted down one of the proposed routes, for a southern east-west road, last year after residents near the route complained.

Residents are increasingly objecting to large development plans in Springdale. Van Hoose said aldermen need to consider how development can benefit the city as a whole. "In the engineering business, I had a little sign in my office that reminded me every day that when I was up to my rear in alligators, it was hard to remember that my goal was to drain the swamp," he said. "When the council room is full of opposition, it is hard to remember that our goal is to build a school or a road or a playground or a park," he said. "Some folks will be adversely affected in order to provide for the needs of the whole."

© Copyright 2002 Arkansas Democrat-Gazzette

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