Thread: Attorney general irks both sides of immigration debate

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cct ... 099415.htm

Posted on Sat, Jul. 22, 2006

Attorney general irks both sides of immigration debate
Nation's top law enforcement officer speaks at a Santa Clara hotel to garner support for legislative reform
By Jessie Mangaliman
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales came to the South Bay on Friday to make a case for the Bush administration's plan for immigration reform, but he was met with protest and resistance from supporters and opponents of the plan's most controversial provision: a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

"Reform must be based on reality. We can't deport 12 million people," Gonzales said, speaking to a crowd of 150 at the Marriott Hotel in Santa Clara in a public forum sponsored by the Commonwealth Club.

Outside, about 20 members of the Raging Grannies and anti-war protesters held up signs that declared, "No War on Immigrants, Iraq, Iran." An hour after the address, a couple of members of the group chanted in the hotel lobby as the crowd left the room, "Immigrants Have Human Rights/Grannies join in the fight."

In a hotel meeting room nearby, two officials from the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a civilian border patrol group based in Arizona, called a news conference to denounce the Bush proposal. A sign on the wall read: "Border Security First. No Amnesty."

Gonzales repeated the same arguments he has made for the past several months in speeches and news conferences around the country to drum up support for immigration reform proposals being touted by President Bush.

"Reform that's anything short of comprehensive will not be nearly good enough," he said. "This is a very delicate and very complicated issue."

The Bush plan calls for increased border security, a temporary guest-worker program, an employee verification system and legalization for some undocumented immigrants already living and working in the United States, after they have paid taxes and penalties and committed to learning English.

But like the conflicting House of Representatives and U.S. Senate bills, Gonzales acknowledged there is no public consensus on immigration reform, as mirrored in protests and denouncements at Friday's forum.

The Bush proposal for a temporary guest-worker program "is a way of exploiting workers. It won't lead to citizenship," said Ruth Robertson of the Raging Grannies. Robertson supports legalization and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Immigrant advocates across the country have criticized the Bush plan as not going far enough with legalization, but officials with the Minutemen, who oppose any form of legalization, slammed it as "unacceptable."

"As this nation's highest-ranking law enforcement officer," said Al Garza, executive director of the Minuteman group, "it is inexcusable that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would promote a blanket amnesty for people who have committed such felonies as document fraud, identity theft and income tax evasion."

In his address, Gonzales said "illegal immigration degrades the rule of law," but that an earned legalization program is fair.

Asked during a question-and-answer session with the audience his opinion of the Minutemen, Gonzales said, "We live in a free society. But as a general matter, law enforcement should be in the hands of law enforcement agencies."

"I understand the frustrations," he said. "The bottom line is we need to do a better job on the border."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... e=politics

SANTA CLARA
Attorney general urges Congress to find immigration compromise
- Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, July 22, 2006



U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, speaking at a Santa Clara forum Friday, called on members of Congress to end the election-year maneuvering and compromise on their widely different views of immigration reform.

During a summer when members of the House and Senate are holding hearings across the country on competing immigration bills, Gonzales has been on the road touting President Bush's immigration reform proposal -- which combines a temporary guest worker program and legal status for the nation's estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants with stepped-up border and workplace enforcement, a plan that resembles the Senate bill. The House bill focuses only on enforcement, with a 700-mile border fence, a workplace immigration crackdown, and criminal penalties for illegal immigrants and people who aid them.

"We do have competing legislation," Gonzales told about 100 members of the Commonwealth Club of California in Santa Clara. "Now it's up to a conference committee to work out the differences. But it is something that needs to happen, and it needs to happen this year. We're still hopeful ... despite the fact that it's an election year."

So far, however, Congress has not convened a conference committee, and House Republicans remain adamant that they won't accept a program they criticize as "amnesty" for illegal immigrants.

Bush in recent months has pushed hard for an immigration overhaul that combines tough enforcement with more legal avenues for immigrants.

But the president has gotten little backing within his own party as conservative Republicans, especially in the House, emphasize tough security and oppose any path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. As they close in on re-election campaigns, those Republicans have bucked Bush's leadership and tailored their message for conservative voters anxious about a porous border.

"Some believe we should be focusing solely on border security," Gonzales said. "I don't think you can have true security without taking into account the 11 to 12 million who are here already. We need to know who they are ... and take them out of the shadows."

He added that Mexico is not an enemy and that completely closing the 2,000-mile southern border is neither feasible nor diplomatic.

But he also called for adding 6,000 agents to the 12,000-member Border Patrol by 2008, beefing up fencing and high-tech border monitoring, and creating a tamper-proof identity card for all noncitizens that would indicate whether they are eligible to work.

As Gonzales spoke, a dozen peaceful picketers flanked the hotel, calling for an end to the war in Iraq and criticizing the administration for a temporary guest worker plan they called exploitative and equated with the often-criticized bracero program.

"They were used here, abused here and sent home with promises of savings that did not materialize," said Ruth Robertson, a member of the Raging Grannies activist group, referring to the braceros, Mexican agricultural workers who were invited to fill temporary jobs between 1942 and 1964.

Several members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, an activist group opposing illegal immigration, criticized the attorney general for talking about border security but not acting on it.

"Not everyone who comes here comes to work. They come to do crimes," said Tony Dolz, a Republican Assembly candidate from Santa Monica.

Asked by an audience member about his opinion of Minutemen militias patrolling the border, Gonzales said enforcement should be left to the federal government.

"The last thing we want to see is someone get killed," he said. "Where the Minutemen can help -- they have a mighty voice and they can express that to members of Congress."

The attorney general was also asked about a recent Supreme Court decision that provisions of the Geneva Conventions apply to terror suspects being held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Gonzales defended the treatment of prisoners there as humane, but acknowledged that ignoring the international conventions has hurt the Bush administration's global reputation.

"Right or wrong, there have been perceptions," he said. "That's why the president talked about closing Guantanamo at the appropriate point."

Gonzales also fended off criticism of the administration's refusal to allow an internal Justice Department probe of a warrantless wiretap program under which the National Security Agency intercepts some international telephone calls and e-mails without court approval.

"Electronic surveillance of the enemy in times of war is something that has been done since President Wilson in World War I," he said.

Commonwealth Club member Heidy Braverman of Los Altos said she was disappointed by Gonzales' remarks about Guantanamo and wiretaps.

"He dodged questions," she said. "He wasn't terribly informative."

Almost two dozen members of the Greater San Jose Hispanic Chamber of Commerce attended the talk to hear Gonzales' position on immigration and to show support for the nation's highest-ranking Latino public official.

"The president is doing the right thing by sending a Hispanic to talk to people in the country about this issue," said Efrain Cardoza of the chamber.

E-mail Tyche Hendricks at thendricks@sfchronicle.com.

Asked by an audience member about his opinion of Minutemen militias patrolling the border, Gonzales said enforcement should be left to the federal government.

That is just what we did for 20 years and look at the results.

How can anyone say that with a straight face?

I am so tired of hearing this is a 'delicate', 'complicated', 'sensitive', or 'complex' issue. It is right or wrong.

So we might not get all of the illegals deported - that means we shouldn't try?

We do not solve all the murders in this country, I have seen statistics of 65%. We solve an even smaller percentage of other crimes. Does that mean we should just throw up our hands and say, 'Well, we can't get them all, so we aren't going to go after any of them.'

That is such a really silly statement.