Thread: In Texas, lawmakers lectured by activist...in Spanish

EVERYONE, check out Bachmann's grade on immigration on NUMBERS USA. She will be our next president.

Originally Posted by oldguy

This is opinion based only but I suspect many of these groups have communist backed funding simply it is a way to end capitalism.

I think they are more likely supported by the liberation theology of the Catholic church that makes them believe they are entitled to leech off others because they are "victims" instead of encouraging them to make their own countries a better place.

Texas has waited long enough for some immigration enforcement legislation and we are getting the light version this session. It's better than nothing. But dang people, we are in the weeds down here! It's time to break out the mowers and seriously start cleaning the place up. It's past time to get tough.

Dixie

Added to Homepage--

http://www.alipac.us/article-6352--0-0.html

How's Bachman on illegal immigration?

Originally Posted by partwerks

How's Bachman on illegal immigration?

Michele Bachmann's NumbersUSA Rating B-


http://www.numbersusa.com/content/actio ... hmann.html

The following is from Rep. Bachmann's House website: "The last time our immigration laws were overhauled was in 1986, when Congress granted amnesty to almost three million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and promised increased border security in the near future. Twenty years later, the number of illegal immigrants in our country has quadrupled, with no end in sight. Rather than repeating the mistakes of our past, I believe Congress must work to secure our nation’s borders and enforce the immigration laws already in place. Once this is achieved, improvements to the current system can be considered."

Source: http://bachmann.house.gov/Issues/Issue/?IssueID=4316

Here is a another source to the actual hearing. This avenue will not take you directly to the story (at least on this link it won't) You need to go to the home page of KTRH then click on the visual video of this hearing.

http://www.ktrh.com/cc-common/news/sect ... le-8719378

Related Thread Here
[size=150] “Why Aren’t You Speaking English?â€

This is the opinion piece published in the Statesman that is source of the above article.

Curb the intolerance, por favor
Editorial Board, Commentary

Intolerance and ignorance never are welcome. Both are especially out of place at the Texas Capitol or any building where democracy is on display.

That is why two recent incidents at our Capitol are so distressing. One involved a state senator. The other involved a tea party activist. Both brought shame on themselves and embarrassment to the state.

On Monday, during a Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee hearing on the so-called sanctuary cities bill, Antolin Aguirre of the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition testified against the measure. It's a bill that is heavy with controversy, as it should be. The Senate has approved it. The House probably will. Advocates on both sides of the issue have presented their cases with passion and sincerity.

That's all Aguirre was trying to do, and the Senate committee hearing was an appropriate place to do so.

"We are 100 percent opposed to SB 9, which impacts our families and our communities," Aguirre said.

His brief testimony was offered in Spanish. An interpreter immediately converted it to English. For some reason, that arrangement upset Sen. Chris Harris, R-Arlington.

"Did I understand him correctly that he has been here since 1988?" said Harris, repeating something Aguirre had said in his introduction.

"Yes, sir, that's correct," Aguirre replied in English.

"Why aren't you speaking in English then? Twenty-three years. You've been here for 23 years?" Harris asked.

Through the interpreter, Aguirre said Spanish is his "first language and since it is his first time giving testimony he would rather do it in Spanish."

That seems reasonable to us. It did not to Harris.

"It is insulting to us," said Harris, taking it upon himself to speak for the entire committee. "It is very insulting. And if he knows English, he needs to be speaking in English."

Harris' comments brought murmurs of derision from the audience, prompting the committee's vice chairman, Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, to say, "As individuals come forward and speak their personal point of view about how they feel about things, senators also are entitled to speak their personal point of view and may not be speaking for everybody as well."

Precisely correct, and all Texans should hope that Harris was speaking only for himself. Aguirre's use of Spanish, with an interpreter, was not an insult. At most, it was an inconvenience for Harris, who should have dealt with it by asking whether Aguirre could testify in English. Aguirre should not have had to face Harris' pique. It was uncalled for, unnecessary and un-Texan.

In acceptable but not perfectly smooth English, Aguirre told the American-Statesman on Wednesday that he chose to testify in Spanish because he was more comfortable in his native language. Like all naturalized U.S. citizens (he became one in 2001), Aguirre had to show English proficiency to pass the citizenship test. The test also requires an understanding of U.S. history and government.

Aguirre clearly understands one of the most important things about those topics.

"I just wanted to tell (Harris) one of the amendments of the Constitution, the first one, is freedom of speech. In this country there is not any law to be the only language is English," he said.

That goes for naturalized citizens, witnesses at legislative hearings and naturalized citizens who testify at legislative hearings. All legislative witnesses are due respect and courtesy, including Americans by choice who took the difficult path to citizenship.

The subject of immigration legislation also brought unfortunate words during a Capitol rally last weekend with Rebecca Forest, a co-founder of Women on the Wall, which seeks stricter enforcement of immigration laws. It is a reasonable goal. But Forest, in bemoaning the lack of Texas legislative action similar to anti-illegal immigration measures approved in Arizona and Alabama, opted for unreasonable words.

"If you want to know why we can't pass legislation in Texas it's because we have 37, no 36, Hispanics in the Legislature. All of the states that have passed legislation have a handful, and I mean literally, some of them have no Hispanic legislators, well, maybe three or five or something," she said.

"So that's part of the problem, and we need to change those numbers. We need to do something about it," said Forest, adding, "So the problem is these Hispanic legislators (and) that it's too close to them and they simply ... cannot vote their conscience correctly."

Does Texas have too many Hispanic legislators?

We don't think so. We think Texas has exactly the number of Hispanic legislators that Texas voters said they wanted the last time they went to the polls. Ditto for Republicans.

We also see no evidence that Hispanic legislators "cannot vote their conscience correctly."

Many Hispanics were born here. Many who weren't became citizens. And, undoubtedly, many are here illegally.

But that last factor falls far short of being justification for the comments by Harris or Forest.

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/curb-t ... ommentForm

Texas needs to make English the official language and that will end a lot of this Bull. When these so called "I can't speak English" people have to pay for their own $20 an hour interpreter, they will speak English.

Dixie