During last night's State of PA (featuring Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Joseph Grieboski), many people raised issues relating to our upcoming Latino-issues program.

Here are some responses:

Patricia from Lewisburg asks:
How do Latinos decide where to settle?

Richard from Wyoming asks:
Your show seems to be saying that your educated guests are the real Latino stereotype. That's not honest, is it?

Shirley from Wyalusing
I keep reading about Hazleton's illegals and the mayor saying they are responsible for crime. Do your guests acknowledge the Mayor's claims?

Dan from Wapwallopen
What do your guests hope to accomplish on this program? Do they really believe viewers will change their opinions of illegal aliens?

Art from Kingston:
While I've tried to understand how polarizing immigration has been in Hazleton, more often than not I'm embarasssed by the way we seem to be portrayed by national media. Should we care about that, or just focus on seeing Latinos in a different light locally?

Hyping stereotypes is no way to deal with our changing regional population. It is just as dangerous today as it was at the turn of the last century--and equally small minded. I hope that this program helps viewers embrace our Latin population with the respect and dignity so central to Hispanic culture.

The point is the all these anti immigrant campaigns have negatively affected our towns. Not only has nothing been done to fix our immigration system, but now all Latinos - immigrant or non - are facing discrimination.

We need a system that deals with immigration for real. Maybe criminals should be deported and hard working families should stay. Then we need to integrate people into our communities better. Sort of like when my grandparents came here.

The federal government has only made things worse for us. Any anger should be targeted at them - not immigrants or Latinos.