A brief analysis of CAIRCO survey results

Over the past few weeks, we invited CAIRCO readers to take our survey and comment on our activities. Here is a summary of the responses:

  • About half of the respondents want us to help them be more effective in returning America to immigration sanity. Half said "keep up the good work." No one throught we should give up.
  • Approximately two-thirds said that heavy lobbying would be required to affect legislation. One-third said to keep up a reasonable lobbying effort.
  • About 60% of the respondents thought CAIRCO should endorse specific candidates.
  • About half of the respondents thought that meetings and public events would be helpful. One-third said they were not necessary.
  • 71% said CAIRCO alerts are extremely valuable. 25% said they were somewhat helpful.
  • Nearly 70% said the website is extremely informative.
  • Respondents prioritized Colorado news articles as being quite valuable. National news articles came in second. Over half of the respondents want more articles on the front page.
  • Two-thirds of respondents don't use Facebook and three-quarters don't use Twitter.
  • 98% of respondents are very concerned about immigration enforcement and its impact on America's future.

Some comments and our responses

We wish to thank those who responded. Here are a few anonymous comments and our responses:

 

Comment: "Are you fishing for viablility of CAIRCO? Could have asked for fundraising ideas... or just for funds?"

CAIRCO response: Yep, we're trying to figure out if we are being effective helping inform people and encouraging them to take action. We already asked for donations earlier this year, although we'll have some more expenses in the near future.

 

Comment: Only one responder thought that CAIRCO might be perceived as racist: "Endorsing candidates could have the opposite of the intended effect since some see the position of CAIRCO as racist (I don't)... The best way to enhance the CAIRCO website is to have original content. Graphs, projections, and statistics that show Coloradans how immigration affects their communities and their pocketbook would be more helpful than regurgitating and commenting on emotionally charged content... CAIRCO seems very emotionally charged and bias to a fault."

CAIRCO response: For 20 years, we have provided a substantial amount of background information and immigration facts. That information, coupled with research by Center for Immigration Studies, FAIR, and NumbersUSA, should be immensely helpful to those researching the issue.

But facts alone will not save America. When a government systematically strives to dismantle its own nation, those who pay attention are likely to get more than a little bit irritated. We would hope that those concerned folks will take political action.

CAIRCO is concerned about the impact of immigration-driven population growth on future generations of Americans - of all races, creeds, and colors (see About CAIRCO). CAIRCO is not racist. We do insist on using correct US government terminology, such as alien and illegal alien. Doing so might alienate the open borders special interests and it might go against the grain of the politically correct mainstream media. But we'll stick with correct terminology.

We do cover some of the numerous crimes committed by those who have snuck into America and evaded capture at our border. We have observed that the mainstream media increasingly avoids mention of immigration status of illegal alien criminals. Often, the MSM deliberately avoids even printing last names of foreign criminals who could be inferred to be illegal aliens. We feel obligated to take up the slack.

 

Comment: A few responders didn't like the website appearance, white background, and maroon color of article titles on the front page.

CAIRCO response: We'll be updating the website according to some of these suggestions.

 

Comment: "Maybe have more interaction for CAIRCO users on the website. Find ways to attract a new younger generation of users that are concerned about our future generations."

CAIRCO response: Good suggestion about reaching younger folks. They tend to gravitate toward Facebook and Twitter, so we might consider a presence there in the future. As for interation and comments: involvement is a good thing, but we would have to spend a lot of volunteer time moderating comments. 

 

Comment: "I would welcome more meetings to which those still trying to make up their minds could assimilate current info regarding cost to CO citizens, impacts on edcation, crime, unemployment, health care, environrment, and US culture."

CAIRCO response: Good suggestion. We've done a fair number of meetings, presentations, and rallys in the past.

 

Comment: We need an "Immediate means of contacting CO legislators when votes are pending in CO legislature complete with talking points."

CAIRCO response: We already do that. We send out alerts and post updates on our website when important bills are in committee. However, it's hard to get people to the Capitol to testify in committee - it seems that most folks who favor immigration sanity have to work for a living.

 

Comment: "Constitutional ammendments should be considered and spearheaded by CAIRCO, ie - mandatory E-verify."

CAIRCO response: We did that in 2006 with the Defend Colorado Now initiative (also see CAIRCO history.) It sure did rally people around the issue. Unfortunately, initiatives take a tremendous amount of time, effort, and financial and legal support.

 

Comment: "I believe cairco should be spending most of its resources on educating the public as to the costs, impacts, etc. of high levels of immigration, both legal and illegal, on the quality of life in Colorado. Politicians are not going to change their positions until there is a massive shift in public opinion."

CAIRCO response: We try to present reference material as well as current articles and information on the issue. Would you be able to join us in preparing material or making presentations?

 

Comment: If CAIRCO doesn't keep going on these Political Issues... Colorado will lose, stick with it CAIRCO!

CAIRCO response: We plan to do so. Can you help?