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Illegal immigration hearing held in Evansville Tuesday
THOMAS LANGHORNE, Courier & Press staff writer
Tuesday, August 29, 2006

A congressional hearing on the hot button issue of illegal immigration attracted 200 people to The Centre this morning, where elected officials and experts jousted over the merits of House and Senate bills.

Four members of the 40-member House Judiciary Committee, including Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., heard testimony from and questioned a panel of experts.

Today's hearing was one in a series of Judiciary Committee field hearings across the country that are designed to point out perceived flaws in immigration legislation passed by the Senate in May.

Democrats have derided the hearings as a political stunt to delay House-Senate compromise negotiations over the two bodies' starkly contrasting immigration bills and to rouse the emotions of conservative voters before the November elections.

But Hostettler said afterward that the Evansville hearing was worthwhile because it helped clarify an issue that is vital to residents of Vanderburgh and surrounding counties.

"It has been my experience that citizens in the 8th (congressional) District are most concerned about this issue, and most concerned not only (about) the impact on our society, but the impact on their children someday to have a job in America," he said.

"As we heard testimony today, a lot of folks in this country begin their climb up the employment ladder with a job that could be taken away, and has been taken away in many cases, by an illegal alien. Congress must do the right thing, and continue to give the tools to the administration it needs to aggressively enforce our laws."

The campaign of Brad Ellsworth, Hostettler's Democratic challenger in this year's 8th district election, promised to comment on the hearing later in the day.