Posted on Sat, Jul. 01, 2006email thisprint this
Hispanics argue hearings impede immigration reform
BY EMILY FREDRIX
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MILWAUKEE - Hispanic leaders said Friday national hearings on an immigration bill were nothing but a stall tactic aimed at delaying progress on reforming the nation's immigration system.

Speakers at the League of United Latin American Citizens' annual convention said Republicans are trying to use the issue to win votes in the upcoming midterm elections. A series of hearings on the bill will only delay passage of immigration reform, said John Tresvina, president of the Mexican American Legal and Education Defense Fund.

"It's basically a stalling tactic," Tresvina said at an immigration forum Friday at the convention in Milwaukee. "It's a way to appeal to their base."

Latinos do not pose a threat to the government and should be valued for their economic contributions, said Dolores Huerta, who co-founded United Farm Workers of America with Cesar Chavez. Republicans won't let progress take place if they continue to hold hearings and use immigration as a way to win votes, she said.

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

House Republican leaders scheduled the hearings, which continue next week, to get input on a Senate-passed bill that would offer legal status to millions of illegal immigrants. Speakers Friday said the measure is far from perfect but still better than the one offered by U.S. 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 win the election. His Republican counterpart, Ken Mehlman, canceled his address because of weather-related travel problems but said in a letter to attendees 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, in prepared remarks for her speech Friday evening, 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. (is she up for re-election?)

Many speakers throughout the weeklong convention took issue with Sensenbrenner, whose home of Menomonee Falls is not far from Milwaukee. They invited him to address the group, but his office said he could not because of official duties and constituent visits.

Sensenbrenner, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was disappointed at the tone of some activists at the convention, said a spokesman, Jeff Lungren.

"Unfortunately, this type of misleading and divisive rhetoric only makes it more difficult to reach an agreement on how to fix our border and immigration problems," Lungren said.

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/dulut ... 946603.htm
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Friday, Rush Limbaugh, at the end of his show, read an article where the Democrats said Republicans were politicizing (sic), this issue and would not allow it! He said this issue scares the Democrats and now that Republican's are working on the problems, they are more worried.....ended by saying if Dems are bashing Republicans on this, then the Republican's must be onto something!