College Republicans host game searching for illegal immigrants

Joey Cooper moved to the United States when he was 3 years old after being born on a Naval base in the Philippines. Cooper, who was considered a U.S. citizen because he was born on the base, moved to the United States in 1988. But Cooper's Filipino mother, Mari Lou Cooper, immigrated with his family and waited six years to become a citizen. Cooper, political science junior, said he has a greater understanding of immigration because of this experience. He said it made him want to participate in the "Are you illegal?" event held Wednesday. Cooper was one of 10 students who participated in the campuswide scavenger hunt hosted by the College Republicans. The game challenged students to "catch" people designated as "illegal immigrants" and have their name entered into a drawing to win prizes. Two of the 10 students marked as illegal were supposed to be Al Qaeda operatives, and finding them gave participants more chances to win the drawing. "It's to provoke debate and discussion about illegal immigration," said Jody Crouch, College Republicans president. "We're getting feedback, some positive and some negative. We're not doing this to shy away from the issues." An estimated 10 million to 12 million illegal immigrants currently live in the United States, said Steve Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies. "It's an imperfect science, and 10 to 12 million is a good number," Camarota said. "There could be a little more now, sure, but the margin of error with an estimate like that is bigger than the annual growth." Saibett Tome, mass communication senior from Mexico, said she thinks the event was highly offensive. "It's really offensive," Tome said. "That's not the way to raise awareness." But Luis Lozano, political science junior also from Mexico, said he does not think the event was offensive. "I don't find it offensive because it's the truth - illegals are everywhere," Lozano said. "It's just a demonstration." Crouch said the College Republicans held the event because of the "large amount of economic and social problems that stem from illegal immigration." "They aren't born here, and they come in. And they don't pay taxes or have health care, which hurts our economy," Crouch said. Josh Melder, College Republicans vice president, said some people misunderstand the Republican party's view of immigration. "People believe we're opposed to immigration, but we're not," Melder said. "We're concerned about illegal immigration because you can't monitor it." Natalie Rigby, International Services Office director, said the words 'illegal' and 'immigration' - are not synonymous." Rigby said the word immigration defines the official process of immigrating into the country, so there is no such thing as illegal immigration. "If they're coming in the country illegally, there is no immigration process, and they're entering without immigration or paperwork," Rigby said. Crouch said the event was inspired by a similar event hosted by the College Republicans at New York University. The event, titled "Find the Illegal Immigrant," was held in February. It was protested by about 300 people, according to a report by the NYU student newspaper, the Washington Square News. Some students said they did not understand why the event was held at LSU. "I want to know why you would do that?" said Cyrus Cooper, chemistry freshman. "The awareness part doesn't really work." Other students said they also thought the event was hard to understand. "I think the danger a lot of my fellow conservatives fall into is they inadvertently or advertently dehumanize people," said Daniel Lorrain, accounting sophomore. Cooper, who grew up in Madisonville, said he does not think the event was offensive. "My mom was a naturalized citizen for six years," Cooper said. "It took years for her to become a citizen, but she's more appreciative of it now." Cooper said his mother appreciates her citizenship because she endured the process required to become a legal citizen. "She knew the only way for her and her children to succeed was to do it the right way," Cooper said. "People say it takes too long, or it's too hard. But the benefits outweigh the hard process." Rigby said there are about 1,400 international students studying at the University this semester. Rigby said all the international students currently at the University have entered the country legally. "These students admitted to the University have papers, and they're doing it the right way," Rigby said. "They're following the rules, and this is the group who, in our opinion, is being monitored and needs the least problems with immigration concerns, and their purpose of being in the U.S. is to study." Crouch said he was aware of the controversy surrounding the illegal immigrants game. "We knew this was going to cause controversy," Crouch said. "But hopefully something good will come out of this, and maybe someone will pick up the issue on campus."

----- Contact Elizabeth Miller at emiller@lsureveille.com