AMY GOODMAN: And you’re listening to Democracy Now!, Pacifica’s national daily grassroots election show. We turn now to today’s primary states, North and South Dakota and Arizona. In a few minutes, we’ll be talking with the administrator of a women’s health clinic in North Dakota. Did you know that no local doctors will perform abortions in North Dakota, that South Dakota is only the second state in the country to ban same-sex marriage? We’ll talk with some activists in both states. But first we turn to Arizona, where Pacifica national affairs correspondent Larry Bensky is standing by, and he’ll be joined by Guadalupe Castillo, a member of Derechos Humanos, a group that advocates for Latino and immigrant rights in Tucson, Arizona. Larry, welcome.

LARRY BENSKY: Thank you, Amy. And hello, Guadalupe Castillo. I’m in Phoenix. Guadalupe is in Tucson. And one of the issues that has been on the agenda here, although I must say it isn’t addressed clearly or frankly, is the issue of immigration, Arizona being, of course, a border state, a state with an estimated 20% Latino population, and a state where unemployment is theoretically very low and a lot of low-wage jobs are available, low-wage jobs that are traditionally filled by immigrant populations. Guadalupe Castillo, what is your impression of the immigration factor in the Republican primary so far?

GUADALUPE CASTILLO: Well, I think that this factor is obviously playing well into certain sectors of the community here in Arizona. But I think for the vast majority of people from Arizona and the border regions, “anti-immigrant” simply translates to anti-Mexican, anti-Latino. And so, the rhetoric is, to me, despairing to have our diversity in this community, which includes not only Mexicanos, Latinos, African Americans, but certainly Native Americans compose a large sector of our population, trampled for personal political gain.

LARRY BENSKY: Well, one of the most visible manifestations of that kind of rhetoric is coming, of course, from Pat Buchanan. And you can’t turn on the television set here for two minutes, of course, without seeing tons of political ads from all candidates, most especially Steve Forbes, who’s spending an estimated $3 million in this state. But Pat Buchanan is running ads, too, and one of those ads is an ad about immigration. I’d like to play that, the audio of that, for our listeners now and get your reaction to it.

PAT BUCHANAN: Each year, millions of illegal immigrants pour across our southern borders into the United States. Most come without job skills. Crime explodes. And who pays the cost of their healthcare, housing, welfare? You do, thanks to one unelected federal judge. I’ll term limit these federal judges, declare a time out of new immigration, secure America’s borders and insist on one languae, English, for all Americans.

LARRY BENSKY: Now, the visuals that go along with that ad are of police arresting young Mexican American men or Mexican men trying to come across the border. You’ve seen that ad, I assume, Guadalupe.

GUADALUPE CASTILLO: Yes, I have. And I consider that ad to be as pernicious as was the Willie Horton ads that were run in the last presidential election. Immigration, for these candidates, especially Buchanan, has — they have made immigration the Willie Horton issue, emphasizing crime and welfare to certain — to our people, to the people of color. And I think that this is divisive. And beyond divisive, it is dangerous, as well, because when he shows and talks about that our country is under foreign invasion and that we must stop this foreign invasion, I believe that this is dangerous, because it calls upon the militias and other paramilitary groups that function along the border, and other people, to actually kill people coming across the border, to have the Army at the border, which is already there. We’re already highly militarized here along the border, because of making the border sort of the lightning rod for all of the social, economic and political ills of the United States. It’s an easy area, an easy target, because we are fairly isolated. And so the consequences then remain here. But the consequences are harmful to our communities in the violation of human rights and literally living in communities where the Constitution does not function.

LARRY BENSKY: We have to take a break in a minute, but I wanted to get your answer to a question that’s being asked around the country in this 1996 election year. If, as you say, the community is isolated, can that isolation be broken, to some extent, by greater voter participation? Traditionally, in other states, and here in Arizona, Latinos are underregistered and underrepresented at the voting booth? Is something going to be done about that in 1996?

GUADALUPE CASTILLO: I think that various groups have already — have started, and have for many years started, to have people register to vote. And obviously, that is an area that is of concern to all of us, is to get people out to vote. But I think beyond the vote, I think more important, as well, is to mobilize our community. I think that what is going to turn this around is to have a social movement of people denouncing the atrocities that are, you know, being announced by these candidates. And I say “atrocities” because there is real harm to people at the border as a result of this hot rhetoric, such as there was harm to African American communities as a result of the Willie Horton ad.

LARRY BENSKY: Guadalupe Castillo, stay with us. We’re going to come back after a brief pause here on Democracy Now! I’m Larry Bensky in Phoenix. Guadalupe Castillo is two hours down the road in Tucson. Today is the Arizona primary. And those of you who listen regularly to this program will hear us with results and analysis tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, stay with us. We’ll be back in 60 seconds.

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AMY GOODMAN: And you’re listening to Democracy Now! Coming up in a few minutes, we’re going up to the Dakotas, to North and South Dakota, to talk about women’s healthcare, to talk in gay and lesbian rights. But right now we’re going to stick with this conversation in Arizona with Guadalupe Castillo, a member of Derechos Humanos, a group that advocates for Latino and immigrant rights in Tucson. And we’re also with Larry Bensky, Pacifica national affairs correspondent, who’s in Phoenix.

Guadalupe. I wanted to ask you about the other candidates. I mean, it is easy to isolate Pat Buchanan. After all, the Republican establishment is attempting to do that right now. But what about the other candidates and their views on immigration?

GUADALUPE CASTILLO: Well, I think that all these candidates in — and I would even say the Democratic candidates, as well, are giving out an anti-immigrant rhetoric. And I think that it’s a scapegoating, because the issues are not being addressed in their complexity. The issues of the movements of people across borders is a very complex one and is a long historical one. And I think that those complexities are not being addressed to the American people. And so, rather than addressing the complexities of these issues, it is simply better just to use scapegoating, simplistic rhetoric.

LARRY BENSKY: The way that Arizona is gerrymandered, Guadalupe Castillo, Latinos have one member of Congress, Ed Pastor, who represents one of the districts along the border in part of the city you live in, Tucson. The other district along the border is represented by Congressman Kolbe, a Republican. And I saw him yesterday at the Tucson women’s lunch, women’s Republican lunch, where your group was picketing outside. And when I spoke to him and a couple of his aides afterwards, they were upset about Pat Buchanan’s rhetoric. They thought it was very divisive. And several of the other Republican women in the room that I spoke to thought that Buchanan was divisive. And indeed, Buchanan got a very cold reception, relatively speaking, at that luncheon. Do you think that his popularity, Buchanan’s, in Arizona may be overrated?

GUADALUPE CASTILLO: Well, I think that in certain areas of the state, it would be overrated. Certainly, if you notice what areas he visited, he did not visit Nogales, he did not visit Douglas, because those communities are overwhelmingly in majority of Mexican and Mexican American, and they would have come out truly against, to show that his popularity is only, you know, very strong in certain pockets of Arizona. He certainly did not approach the Native American groups that are here in Arizona, and some of whom have often voted as Republicans. So, you know, I think that there is — absolutely, his campaign was geared to those sectors that he could appeal to and that are very divisive. I think that, you know, Arizona has a large population also of militia groups and paramilitary groups and fringe groups, and I think those were the groups that he was appealing to.

LARRY BENSKY: Well, we should tell our listeners that it’s a cold clear day here in Arizona. It snowed overnight in the northern part of the state. Speculation about voter turnout is that it’s going to be somewhere between 10 and 20% of Republicans, which is quite low, and that Bob Dole is in bad trouble here, and Pat Buchanan looks like he has momentum for him. That’s the official wisdom anyway. But as you say, Guadalupe Castillo, a lot of Buchanan support is from rural areas. Rural areas are less than 15% of the state now, which has become very heavily urbanized. So, we will watch —

GUADALUPE CASTILLO: Well, we organized several protests here in Tucson, in southern Arizona. And I can tell you that the protests were very diverse. We had people from all sectors of our community, from the gay, lesbian community, from the Jewish community, from the Native American community, from the African American community, so that — from the Anglo community, so that I think that there was a message also given to Mr. Buchanan, is that Arizona, the vast majority of people of Arizona, not the people simply who are going to go vote today, but the vast majority of people in Arizona, will not stand for his racist rhetoric.

LARRY BENSKY: Well, from Arizona. We’re going to go now to North Dakota, I guess. Back to you, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: Thank you very much, Larry Bensky, Pacific’s national affairs correspondent, and Guadalupe Castillo, a member of Derechos Humanos, a group that advocates for Latino and immigrant rights in Tucson, Arizona. I dare say they did not get much mainstream coverage of their protests. It seems to be a very studied approach that corporate TV is taking: Don’t cover the issues, or at least not the people who are on the ground bringing them up. Well, here at Democracy Now!, that is what we’re doing. That is our mission. I’m Amy Goodman.