Thread: FAIR House Amnesty Report July 18, 2006

From: Federation for American Immigration Reform
Date: 2006/07/18 Tue PM 06:00:18 EDT
Subject: House Amnesty Hearing ReportJuly 18, 2006


House Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing on Immigration Reform
The Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims held a hearing on July 18, 2006 entitled, "Should We Embrace the Senate's Grant of Amnesty to Millions of Illegal Aliens and Repeat the Mistakes of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986?" The panel was comprised of Congressman Reyes (D-TX), Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum, Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies, and James Edwards Jr. of the Hudson Institute. The hearing opened with Chairman Hostettler's opening remarks in which he said that the Senate bill, S. 2611, shows the American people that the "U.S. is not serious about enforcing our laws." Ranking Minority Member Rep. Jackson Lee (D-TX) responded by stating that Americans want Congress to fix a broken system through compromise. Rep. King (R-IA) disagreed with this statement, arguing that the American public is aware that S. 2611 is a "bad bill," and they do not want it to become law. Rep. Flake (R-FL) voiced his support for a guest worker program and called the Congressional hearings "faux hearings."

The Subcommittee's attention then turned to the witnesses. Congressman Reyes explained that based on his experience on the Border Patrol for 26 years, he believes another terrorist attack is likely, which is why the U.S. should focus on funding of border enforcement personnel. Ms. Schlafly testified that she has visited 16 states recently and that the people in these states feel that "invasion by illegal aliens is the hottest issue in America." She expressed her belief that granting an amnesty is unfair to legal immigrants, to American children, and to honest businessmen. Ms. Schlafly also explained that she believes words such as "amnesty", "temporary", and "comprehensive" when used by the Senate are deceiving. Dr. Camarota testified next. He stated S. 2611 only makes sense if the U.S. believes that the poorest people are underpaid, as they would be most affected by the bill. The final witness, Dr. Edwards Jr., explained how similar S. 2611 is to the 1986 amnesty. The panel also defended H.R. 4437, stating it does not have deportation provisions, as Rep. Waters (D-CA) suggested during questioning. The hearing closed after 2 rounds of questions, during which Rep. Lofgren (D-CA) referred to the GOP as the "gab old party."

SAVE THE DATE!
More opportunities were just announced for the American public to voice their concerns about illegal immigration. The House Judiciary Committee will hold a number of immigration field hearings in August:

San Diego, CA
2:00 p.m.
Wednesday, August 2

El Paso, Texas
10:00 a.m.
Thursday, August 17

Concord, New Hampshire
10:00 a.m.
Thursday, August 24

Upstate New York (City to be confirmed)
10:00 a.m.
Friday, August 25

Evansville, Indiana
10:00 a.m.
Tuesday, August 29

Dubuque, Iowa
9:00 a.m.
Friday, September 1