Thread: Hearing in Houston to feature testimony on immigrant crimes

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4100986.html




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HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: National

Aug. 8, 2006, 12:44AM



Hearing in Houston to feature testimony on immigrant crimes
Proceeding is one of 21 planned in a dozen states by GOP leaders
By MICHAEL HEDGES
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - A congressional hearing in Houston on immigration reform will include political and law enforcement officials and crime victims testifying about crimes committed by illegal immigrants, a Texas lawmaker said Monday.

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"We are going to hear about the organized crime, murders and other violence associated with illegal immigration and the impact all that is having on our everyday lives," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, who will chair the meeting.

McCaul, whose district includes parts of west Harris County, is a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

The public hearing will be Aug. 16 at the Harris County Civil Justice Center in downtown Houston.

The hearing is one of several being conducted around the country this month arranged by House Republicans after the House and Senate passed different immigration bills.

Pro-immigrant rights groups criticized the hearings Monday.

"The emerging consensus is that the hearings are a joke," said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.

"Republicans are stupid if they think a traveling roadshow of one-sided hearings will produce an election victory in November."

Among those testifying in Houston will be a woman whose child was killed by an illegal immigrant, a Texas state trooper who had a violent encounter with such an immigrant and a county sheriff who will describe "gruesome crime" in his jurisdiction, according to McCaul spokesman Jack Hirschfield.

Among the other witnesses slated for the hearing are Steve McCraw, Texas director of homeland security, who will describe the state's initiatives to curb illegal immigration. A federal official with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Houston will talk about organized crime in Mexico and how it is making its way into Texas.

And Texas National Guard officers will testify about Operation Jump Start, the initiative to put 6,000 Guard troops on the Southwest border.

Harris County Judge Robert Eckels and local law enforcement officials will discuss costs to area taxpayers.

The hearing is among 21 meetings in a dozen states scheduled by the House GOP leadership after passing a bill that focuses almost entirely on border security and curtailing illegal immigration.

The Senate version includes a plan for immigrants to gain guest worker status and a chance for citizenship.

No conference has been scheduled to reconcile the bills. Democrats have dismissed the regional hearings as a stalling tactic to avoid passing an immigration bill this year, despite pressure from President Bush.

michael.hedges@chron.com


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HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: National
This article is: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4100986.html

I can't wait for that transcript! Wish I could be there!

Dixie

As far as I know the only meeting televised was the first in San Diego. Wonder why?

They should have some border agents there to speak out for these 2 border agents they have found guilty there in Tx of doing their jobs! In fact we should charge homeland security for aiding and abetting the enemy! Something should be said at this hearing about this terrible miscarriage of justice of these 2 border guards!