http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... g0804.html

Prop. 200 focus of House hearing

Chris Ramirez
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 4, 2006 12:00 AM

Proposition 200 has helped prosecutors find - and, for the first time, prosecute - non-citizens who have tried to vote in Arizona elections, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas told a congressional subcommittee.

Thomas and Secretary of State Jan Brewer on Thursday each testified to the Committee of House Administration that the controversial law is a safeguard against voter fraud.

And although the number of cases at this point is small and there are plenty who say the issue is overblown, the pair stressed that fraud is a reality.

"We're only now just chipping away at this problem," Thomas said.

Thursday's hearing was the latest in a series of 21 hearings that have crisscrossed the nation this summer. Leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives have been holding the sessions to get input for a proposed immigration-reform law.

Critics of Proposition 200 dismissed the hearings as a sham and a tactic to delay passage of a comprehensive immigration bill.

"We don't need Congress to come here and tell us our immigration policy has problems," state Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, said in a press conference before the hearing. "We need them to go back to Washington and fix them."

Last year, 10 non-citizens who registered to vote were indicted, Thomas said. Four actually voted. Prosecutors also are reviewing another 149 voter-fraud cases involving non-citizens attempting register.

"When non-citizens vote, their votes undermine the franchise of all American voters," Thomas said. "This may represent only a fraction of the fraud that's probably going on."

Prosecutors also have brought charges against 13 convicted felons who voted in recent elections, Thomas said.

Phoenix immigration attorney Daniel Ortega, who also testified, disputed claims that voter fraud involving immigrants was a rampant problem. Proposition 200 will do "disproportionate harm" to minority voters, particularly those living in poverty, he said.

"It's a harmful solution to a problem that doesn't exist," Ortega said.

Outside the hearing, religious groups and immigrant advocates demonstrated against Proposition 200 and criticized both the law and the hearing series.

Roberto Reveles, president of the We Are America Coalition, believed the proposition alienates voters and discourages others, including the disabled and first-time voters, from casting ballots.

"The only fraud that's going on is the fraudulent notion that there's hordes of illegal immigrants going to the polls," he said. "They're trying to create fear."

At one point, a crowd of about 70 pro-immigration demonstrators gathered near the Capitol lawn. A lone Spanish-speaking anti-immigration supporter heckled them.

A shouting match ensued, but there the heckler walked away without incident.

The next hearing in Arizona will be Aug. 17 in Sierra Vista.