Annotations for People: Gerhart-richard

The reality is that the nature of Mexico's economic and political system is such that workers will be asked to bear the burden of an agreement that doesn't address.

Now that Missouri congressman Richard Gehart has announced his opposition to NAFTA, analysts say its proponents will have an even more difficult time gaining support for the North American Free Trade Pact. Andrew Hernandez, of the Latino consensus on NAFTA, agrees but believes many of the arguments being used against the treaty including the loss of jobs to Mexico obscure what he calls the real issues.

I think it's easy to scare the American workers about jobs leaving to Mexico because we are in a recession. People need a scapegoat when they start losing their jobs, when they start facing economic hardships and the most convenient scapegoat right now are immigrants and Mexico.

I would like to ask each and every one of you to please produce your birth certificates. We want to make sure that you're legally here in the United States. I doubt if any of you could do so.

California State Senator Art Torres was in Washington recently at a speech before the National Policy Council. Torres called for a cooling off period on anything having to do with the increasingly emotional issue of immigration.

A cooling off period on legal immigration, illegal immigration, legislation, legislative efforts in states and in the Congress until people get a realistic hold of what's in front of them.

Torres feels immigration should be dealt with in all of its complexities as an international issue.[Transitional Guitar Music]