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Hispanics Against Immigration Hearings

By EMILY FREDRIX
Associated Press Writer


AP Photo/MORRY GASH


MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Hispanic leaders said Friday that Republican plans to hold national hearings on an immigration bill are a stall tactic aimed at delaying immigration reform and attracting more votes for the GOP this fall.

John Tresvina, president of the Mexican American Legal and Education Defense Fund, said the hearings were "basically a stalling tactic."

"It's a way to appeal to their base," Tresvina said at the annual meeting of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Latinos do not pose a threat to the government and should be valued for their economic contributions, said Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers of America with labor leader Cesar Chavez.

"We have to let people know what the truth is. This is a distraction," Huerta said.

House Republican leaders scheduled the hearings to get feedback on a Senate-passed bill that would offer legal status to millions of illegal immigrants.

Speakers said Friday that the measure is far from perfect but still better than the one offered by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., which would have subjected those in the country illegally to felony prosecution.

On Wednesday, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean warned that Republicans were using "immigrant bashing and scapegoating" to seek votes in the November election.

His Republican counterpart, Ken Mehlman, canceled his address to the convention because of weather-related travel problems but said in a letter that it was important for the party to reach out to Hispanic voters and continue working on the immigration issue.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Republicans showed their true colors this week when two-thirds of them voted to eliminate ballots in more than one language.

"We believe any diminishing of language assistance and bilingual ballots is a diminishment of our American democracy," Pelosi said in remarks prepared for a speech Friday evening.