Audience members clash on whether to support path to citizenship

Posted: August 14, 2013 - 4:35pm
By Andy Marso
cjonline.com


CHRIS NEAL/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan., speaks Wednesday at a public forum at the Ramada West. Topics included illegal immigration. "I'm for immigration if it's done legally, but for people who broke the law I'm not for amnesty," Jenkins said.

A discussion about immigration grew heated during a town hall forum hosted Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan., culminating in a Kansas City pastor being shouted down.

Rev. Jason Schoff, of Mission Adelante, rose to tell Jenkins he was "concerned about the human condition with the immigration piece." He asked Jenkins if she would support halting deportations of the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally if they haven’t committed felonies.

"We've got to secure the borders, but we've also got to make sure that somehow we’re taking care of those that are humans and immigrants here and try to give them a way to not fear deportation," Schoff said. "A lot of our businesses need them.”

Schoff's comments weren’t well received by many in the standing-room-only crowd of about 100 in a ballroom at Topeka's Ramada West. As he was speaking, grumbling turned to shouts of "They're illegal," "They're broke the law when they crossed the border," and one person yelling for Schoff to "sit down."

Jenkins at one point appeared to try to defuse the situation by turning attention back to her.

"Now, he's not running for Congress," she said, then added, jokingly, "Are you?"

Jenkins said the U.S. House's Republican leadership is working on an immigration bill as an alternative to the Senate's offering, which includes a 13-year "path to citizenship" for immigrants without legal residency who have clean criminal records and pay fines.

“I’m for immigration if it’s done legally, but for people who broke the law I’m not for amnesty," Jenkins said to applause. “We’re working through that process in (the) Judiciary (Committee) and (the) Homeland Security (Committee) in the House, and we’re going to have our own plan on how to do that.”

Jenkins comments came after another audience member, Renee Slinkard, of Parker, strongly urged her to reject the immigration bill formed by the Senate's bipartisan "Gang of Eight," calling it "horrible."

“Our immigration system is not broke," Slinkard said. "Our immigration system is fine. What is broken is the enforcement of our immigration system.”

Slinkard said the solution is simple.

"Close the borders, and secure them,” she said.

But other audience members said the immigration system is outdated and doesn’t allow the U.S. to easily bring into the fold highly skilled workers in science and technology fields, or the unskilled, low-paid labor that large Kansas agriculture operations covet.

Jenkins said she is hearing the complaints.

"We’ve got ag groups that are advocating for something to be done, and I have farmers and ranchers that need something to be done, but I think they want it to be done in a legal fashion,” Jenkins said.

Schoff tried to discuss the difference between a civil infraction like overstaying a visa and a criminal offense, but he said after the forum that he didn't think it made much of an impression on the audience.

"I'm a little frustrated by the lack of a sense of compassion," Schoff said, adding that the call for mass deportations seems "costly and lacking a lot of mercy."

Jenkins also fielded several questions about the farm bill, which is in limbo after House Republicans severed the food stamp portion of it in favor of passing just the farming portion that includes crop insurance and subsidy portion.

John Duty, who grows corn in Winchester, said he was satisfied with Jenkins' explanation that the House leadership wanted to pass something to create more long-term certainty for farmers and the food assistance, as nondiscretionary spending, was never in danger.

Still, Duty expressed little optimism a comprehensive farm bill will be forthcoming.

"I'm not confident the Senate and the House can really work together the way they should," Duty said.

Jenkins offered a few rays of bipartisan hope. She said government reform initiatives she and a group of legislators are developing through a nonprofit called No Labels are progressing through committee, and she believes there is broad support for a House plan to simplify the tax code by closing loopholes that generally benefit only the wealthiest Americans.

Margie Wakefield, a Lawrence lawyer who intends to be Jenkins' Democratic opponent in 2014, said Jenkins' actions in Washington should reflect what she hears at forums like the one that took place Wednesday.

"Based on what I'm hearing from voters, they don't feel Jenkins really listens and takes their concerns seriously," Wakefield said via email. "If elected to Congress, I would prioritize the needs of my constituents over partisan political maneuvering."

http://cjonline.com/news/2013-08-14/...-jenkins-forum