We’re concerned about Austin mayoral candidate George Dahl’s comments about the city’s immigrant population. He is running against incumbent Bonnie Rietz.

Dahl has cited crime rate numbers and linked them to the Hispanic community.

Talk to police officers and they’ll tell you that the drug methamphetamine is the city’s main crime problem, not immigrants. Meth is what is filling the jail and spurring a need for a new law enforcement center.

Austin police made 2,436 arrests in 1997 and 2,155 arrests in 2003. In 1997, 132 of those arrests, about 5.4 percent, involved Hispanic people. In 2003, 155 arrests, about 7.2 percent of the total, involved Hispanics.

The 2000 census reported the city’s Hispanic population at 6.1 percent, which most officials say is likely lower than the actual figure.

Dahl is correct that immigration has changed Austin and that many workers in town are undocumented.

However, immigration is a federal issue. Hiring undocumented workers is illegal as he has repeatedly said, but an Austin police officer is not going to sort through corporate hiring records and issue fines. That is the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s job.

Austin’s new Hispanic population is like any group of people. A few are a problem. The majority are just people trying to make a living, take care of their kids and create a good place to live.

The Hispanic newcomers are a valuable addition to an aging community like Austin. Without them, it would probably be just another slowly dwindling city.

Many downtown businesses have closed in the last couple of years, but four Hispanic-owned businesses are flourishing. They are bringing people downtown and generating tax dollars.

Hispanic newcomers are not going away and that should be seen as an advantage.

&045; Post-Bulletin of Rochester