Thread: AZ-Hayworth denounces immigration reform efforts

Hayworth denounces immigration reform efforts
by Erin Kelly - May. 20, 2009 01:32 PM

WASHINGTON - Former Arizona Rep. J.D. Hayworth returned to Congress on Wednesday to blast immigration reform efforts by lawmakers and the Obama administration.

The real goal of reform, Hayworth told a Senate Judiciary panel on immigration, is to make it easier for illegal immigrants to remain in the United States "because some Republicans want cheap labor, and some Democrats want cheap votes."

"First the Bush administration and now the Obama administration have both expressed the desire for so-called 'comprehensive immigration reform,' " said Hayworth, a conservative Republican who served 12 years in Congress. "While the term 'comprehensive' suggests complete or all-encompassing reform, the American people see it for what it is: amnesty for those who have entered this country illegally."
Angry public outcry led Congress to abandon efforts to pass a sweeping immigration bill in 2007, he said.

"Yet here we are again, almost two years later, with this same ill-advised policy objective in this committee's apparent goal," said Hayworth, who works as a radio talk show host at KFYI-AM in Phoenix since his defeat by Democrat Harry Mitchell in 2006 in the 5th Congressional District.

Hayworth's attack on immigration reform efforts did not dissuade Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship. Schumer said he plans a series of hearings on how best to achieve comprehensive reform, which he hopes to take up before the end of this year.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday she strongly supports that effort, although she acknowledged it may be difficult as long as unemployment rates remain high.

Still, Schumer cited polls showing Americans support action on immigration.

"I believe the American people want a solution," he said.

Schumer agreed with Hayworth that Americans refused to support immigration reform in the past because they did not trust the federal government to enforce immigration laws and protect the Southwest border. But he said he believes that federal efforts in the past few years to secure the border are working well.

He cited data from Border Patrol officials showing illegal immigration across the Southwest border is down more than 25 percent from last year, which federal officials have attributed to stronger enforcement and the recession.

Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar said 625 of the 661 miles of fencing slated for installation along the U.S.-Mexico border had been erected as of May 8. The rest will be completed soon, he said.

Federal officials also have deployed 40 mobile surveillance systems along the border to help catch illegal immigrants with radar and cameras, Aguilar said.

"There are a lot of people who say we can't take on comprehensive immigration reform until we've secured the border first," Schumer said. "Well, we have secured the border."

Hayworth acknowledged there has been progress but said it has not been enough.

He said only about 200 miles of the border fence is double-layered, as specified by Congress when it approved the barrier in 2006. That leaves much of the border still vulnerable, he said.

"Smugglers are using collapsible ramps to drive over the vehicle barriers," he said.



http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... 20-ON.html

Thank you J.D. Hayworth for trying.

Schumer is not going to budge but he is correct in saying the American people did not trust them....and we still don't. Amnesty, been there done that and look where it has gotten us.