Reader comments
'Minority-majority' cities

just graduated from ogden high this year and the ogden city school district is definitely minority over white population. but i would say it was a good thing. You meet so many different and interesting people that you wouldnt see at other schools and districts in the rest of Utah.

The minority population is not a problem. The problem is all of the apartment complexes (which our city council is allowing more of). These huge multi-family dwellings drain our law enforcement dollars and raise the crime throughout the whole city. Vote for someone not in office now.

West Valley seems to be bragging about being a criminal town now. Harboring illegals and forcing the minority of americans and legal citizens to be taxed to support city of illegals. This gives a great meaning to being a traitor to america by this city giving homage to illegal foreign nationals.

The diversity is that West Valley is a border town of Mexican inhabitants freeloading off the tax payers.

This should be grounds to close some schools and businesses in West Valley that are aiding and abetting a criminal population.

West Valley is establishing itself as a target city when the next Mexican/American war begins. The mexicans have already declared war on america and we are just letting it happen.

More minorities more gangs. Need I say more?

One of the fundamental obligations of government is to protect the nation from invasion. We have been and are being invaded. It must stop or we will lose our freedom.

I blame both liberals and 'conservatives' for this.
Liberals view illegal aliens as a source of new voters. (The birth rate among liberals is half what it is among conservatives.)
Businessmen want cheep labor.
Labor unions want to organize them and collect dues (and turn them into reliable Democrat voters). The May Day protests a couple of years ago were organized and financed by the AFL-CIO.

There is a culture of freedom. When people come to this country without an understanding of the principles upon which liberty is built they potentially become destructive to liberty itself.

The "immigrants" a euphemism for "illegals" in many cases, have literally taken over what used to be the quiet, blue-collar communities of Glendale and Rose Park and turned them in nothing short of ghettos. It makes me sick because there seems to be no desire to respect their properties. Crime has risen sharply and frankly the communities are dirty and unkempt. They remind me of Mexican border towns. I am a legal immigrant, now citizen, and I am thoroughly ashamed of the way illegal immigrants have taken advantage of this country and its resources. They are turning my American Dream into a trash heap. They need to be deported and apply and wait just like I did. There is no justification for breaking the laws. Yes, it is costly and yes, the process is lengthy, years in my case, but worth it in the end because I can hold my head high and teach my children to live honestly and with pride and gratitude to this country.

We can all learn from your age and experience. I loved your statement, "We didn't really think of them as minorities, just as our friends and kids who went to school with us," she said. "One of my best friends was Japanese."

If only people would realize that we're all human beings, there would be much less tension and hatred in this world.

"And, "women minority and ethnic groups tend to have a higher fertility rate," which helps increase the minority population."

This part was just silly.

In a general sense, women are equally fertile. Women of minority and ethnic groups don't have a higher fertility rate. They just choose to have children more than some groups (either choose to have them, or choose not to prevent having them)

Or refuse to have abortions more than some groups.

I have no problem with those who want to come to America legally. But, those who are here illegally are the root cause of our crime problem. Also, they consume government services without paying anything into it and practically demand those services. They also claim constitutional rights which they don't have. They are welcome to enter the USA legally and become a citizen, not a burden.

This article really brings out the need for an english only policy. A community of people who cannot speak to each other can never develop tolerance and understanding. Where there are so many ethnic backgrounds moving in the need for all of the people to speak english, our national language, becomes all the greater.

yea, you do need to say more, because as of right now you sound like a typical ignorant middle American.

"Americans believe that undocumented immigrants are exploiting the United States' economy. The widespread belief is that illegal aliens cost more in government services than they contribute to the economy. This belief is undeniably false. [E]very empirical study of illegals' economic impact demonstrates the opposite . . .: undocumenteds actually contribute more to public coffers in taxes than they cost in social services. Moreover, undocumented immigrants contribute to the U.S. economy through their investments and consumption of goods and services; filling of millions of essential worker positions resulting in subsidiary job creation, increased productivity and lower costs of goods and services; and unrequited contributions to Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance programs. Eighty-five percent of eminent economists surveyed have concluded that undocumented immigrants have had a positive (seventy-four percent) or neutral (eleven percent) impact on the U.S. economy."
Francine Lipman, Chapman University School of Law, 2006.

West Valley should change its name to Little Mexico (Meheeco). This is not going to help its image as a gangster town.
With more illegals living here that means more people being paid under the table and less tax money being generated for the city, while increasing the amounts that will be paid in welfare programs. Way to go West Valley!!!!!

When Virginia was growing up and had friends who were Japanese, Polish etc., how many stores and government services then conducted all their business in Japanese and Polish???

It is long due that English become the official language of the United States and all publicly funded services be conducted in English only. What a private business (that isn't getting a government bailout) does is their business, but public services should be conducted in English only. No exceptions!

Welcome to all those who come here to be law-abiding, tax paying productive citizens of the United States. If you are here illegally and have no intention of giving your full commitment to being a US Citizen, then get out and good riddance.... and all the spineless politicians of any party who will not support deporting all illegals, good riddance to them too.

I know a college student with a high GPA, who works many hours and volunteers many hours a week. This student has been living in the U.S. since the age of five. This student could not survive if "sent back" to Latin America. Even if paying the $10,000 or more that it costs for an applicant to go through the legal-resident process were possible, walking into an immigration office and asking to start the process would mean deportation. People from Mexico are not permitted to enter the annual 50,000 green card lottery. A man in our area married a Mexican national and they had to live apart for two years and spend thousands and thousands of dollars before she could legally re-enter the country and be with him. Most of my undocumented students are harder workers and more determined to succeed than most of my American-born students. Stop believing the lies of those who hate. Also, if you entered the country legally, especially from Mexico, before 9/11, your situation was different from today's immigrants'. And PLEASE...Let's pass the Dream Act!

I grew up in San Gabriel, California which is almost completely Spanish speaking now,(some is Cambodian) and the neghborhoods and schools are gang infested.
The education system is a joke in San Gabriel for many reasons, all of them stemming from illegal invasion. Think of how much money is spent on educating children of the 'undocumented'in the Los Angeles area, and the lack of decent education for the children of tax paying citizens.
I worked at a county hospital in the late 1980's and nearly all of the maternity cases were illegal aliens who spoke no English, and expected all there needs to be accomadated in Spanish. Most of these people who come here illegally have no respect for the places that they are living and degrade the standard of living for those who do care about their communities. If you don't do something soon WVC, the entire Salt Lake Valley will be another Los Angeles County situation.

But ... but ... I've always heard that GROWTH, any kind of GROWTH, is always great! Just wait until Salt Lake County has five million people (minority or majority folks)! Won't that be just dandy?

The article, as with many news articles, does not separate the references between illegal and legal immigrants.

Legal immigration is generally good and adds to our communities in an orderly and positive way.

Illegal immigration is bad in that it is costly to citizens, enhances the chances of crime, divides the community,and, as stated.....is illegal.

Let's discuss this realistically, supporting the positive and taking action to eliminate the negative.

I agree, America should speak English only. We sure wouldn't want our kids to learn a new language! We wouldn't want our kids to learn, firsthand, about a different culture. We wouldn't want to teach our kids that most immigrants are here legally and just trying to provide for their family, just like everyone else, usually at lower wages and having to endure stereotypes. We wouldn't want to teach our kids that some of the worst crimes are committed by "white" people.
No, we want to teach our kids that whites are somehow the superior race. We've always thought that. Ever notice how race and gender mean nothing to little kids? Wouldn't that be nice if it could continue into adulthood!

I am not sure how people can continually equate the word minority with the word illegal. Most of those people are not illegal aliens. In fact, most of them were born in this country. Making an assumption that every person that is not white is somehow an illegal resident is nothing short of complete racism. I am a white man living in the Liberty Park neighborhood which is extremely diverse. That was one of the top reasons I chose to move there to raise my family.