I know articles have been posted re the recent meeting in San Diego but this one I think is worth posting ( I do not see that it has been posted so if it has I apologize):

http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_4128642

Article Launched: 8/03/2006 12:00 AM


Hearing examines border proposal
Lawmakers discuss immigration reforms
Sara A. Carter, Staff Writer
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

SAN DIEGO - Illegal immigrants cost local communities millions of dollars each year in public safety, health-care costs and education costs, House Judiciary Committee members were told Wednesday at the latest in a series of government field hearings about immigration.
But the panel also heard that a guest-worker program -- a key component of the Senate immigration proposal derided by many House lawmakers -- would cause less of a drain on the U.S. economy than harsh immigration laws.

The mainly Republican panel of representatives said the hearing was to examine the Reid-Kennedy immigration bill, which was approved by the Senate in May. In addition to its guest-worker component, that proposal calls for a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the committee chairman, said the hearings are necessary to ensure that any immigration reform is thoroughly thought out. He said past mistakes would not be repeated and cited as an example the Simpson-Mazzoli bill of 1986, which gave amnesty to more than 3 million illegal immigrants without any real enforcement against those still entering the country illegally.

"While immigration is an emotional issue for millions of Americans, we cannot allow emotion alone to dictate the manner in which we respond to this pressing national issue," Sensenbrenner said. "I believe that the American people expect and deserve members of Congress to approach immigration policy in a thoughtful, factual and responsible manner."

Democrats asked why hearings were being held after bills have already passed.

"These hearings are a con job on the American people," said Rep. Howard Berman, D-North Hollywood, who accused Republicans of avoiding a fight within the party ahead of elections. President Bush supports the Senate's proposal.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, defended the timing.

"The reason it's a good idea to have them now is that we're at an impasse," Gohmert said.

The hearing, held at the Bayview Restaurant at the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot, was filled to capacity with residents and media. Sensenbrenner was compelled to ask for quiet several times as some congressional leaders were hissed and others cheered by audience members.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, spoke against the strict House bill, saying that the panel hearing was nothing more than a "myth." She was booed by audience members when she held up military insignia given to her by an American soldier in Spain waiting to be reunited with his wife, who is an illegal immigrant.

"This is the person we are maligning here today," Jackson said as she pointed to the soldier's bars.

Five witnesses, most of them in favor of stricter border and workplace enforcement, were questioned by the panel. They included Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich; Kevin J. Burns, chief financial officer at University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz.; Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation; Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca; and Wayne Cornelius, a professor at the University of California, San Diego.

Antonovich opened the hearing, saying illegal immigration is crippling Los Angeles County's budget. Antonovich said that of the 10.2 million people who live in the county, nearly 12 percent -- more than 1.2 million --are illegal immigrants.

"The fiscal drain on the taxpayers by those who are here illegally is catastrophic,"Antonovich said. "In public safety, health care and social services, illegal (immigrants) cost Los Angeles County taxpayers nearly $1 billion per year. This does not even include the cost for education."

Further, Antonovich said, officials with the county estimate nearly 26 percent of visits to county emergency centers are made by illegal immigrants, costing the county untold millions more dollars.

Rector, a senior fellow with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., delivered a similar message to the committee and added that if it becomes law, the cost of the Senate's immigration proposal to taxpayers would be insurmountable.

"The National Academy of Sciences has estimated that each immigrant who has not completed high school will impose a net cost on U.S. taxpayers of nearly $100,000 over his lifetime," Rector said. "In the long run, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (Senate bill), if enacted, would prove the largest expansion of government welfare in 35 years. The overall governmental costs of the amnesty could be $30 billion per year or higher."

Cornelius, the UCSD professor, disagreed with Rector, saying that strict border enforcement would only make a bad situation worse. Cornelius said a comprehensive package that offers a guest-worker program and legalization for illegal immigrants already in the country would be a better plan, as it would allow illegal immigrants to freely go back and forth to their home countries rather than staying in the United States permanently, reducing the burden on public coffers.

Baca, who heads the largest sheriff's department in the United States, reminded congressional leaders that any plans to include local law enforcement in enforcing immigration law would cost more than $100 million, and that the decision to use local law enforcement to apprehend illegal immigrants should be left up to local communities, not the federal government.

Nearly 26 percent of L.A. County Jail inmates are illegal immigrants, Baca said, and 70 percent of criminal illegal immigrants recommit crimes within five years.

"Even after they're deported, they find their way back in," Baca said. "In order to be effective, that border needs to be secure. Sheriffs in our county cannot enforce the law without the proper funding."

The Senate bill is in stark contrast to the House's border enforcement bill, which passed in mid-December. Critics have called the House bill --commonly referred to as the Sensenbrenner bill -- draconian in nature, saying it criminalizes illegal immigrants.

Republican hard-liners counter that the legislation is a necessary step to stop the flow of millions of illegal immigrants into the United States.

Wednesday's hearing was the most recent of 19 immigration hearings held by various House and Senate committees so far this year. The Judiciary Committee is to hold its second hearing Aug. 17 in El Paso, Texas.

"I'm of the opinion that these hearings are serving two useful purposes," said TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing nearly 7,000 Border Patrol agents. Bonner, who has testified at several federal hearings this year, was in the audience Wednesday. "One, it educates the people about the harmful provisions in the Senate bill, and two, that no legislation is better than bad legislation."


The Associated Press contributed to this report.