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Tuesday, July 4, 2006

Immigration activists head to hearings
Wednesday's is the first in a series of panels on border enforcement, reform.

By AMY TAXIN
The Orange County Register

Early Wednesday morning, Eileen Garcia will load her husband's SUV with flags and signs and head down the freeway for San Diego.

It's not your standard holiday road trip, but a trek that Garcia and other Orange County residents will make to hear testimony at the first in a series of congressional field hearings on border enforcement and immigration reform.

A member of the Minuteman Project, Garcia knows she doesn't support legalization for the country's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. But she said there's always room to learn more.

"Right now, we're getting all our information on Internet postings or news stories or opinion pieces or editorials from the papers, and we want to hear directly from them," said Garcia, of Laguna Beach.

The hearing at a border patrol station in San Diego on Wednesday, titled "Border Vulnerabilities and International Terrorism" will focus on testimony from border agents, local sheriffs and academics.

Members of the House of Representatives hope the hearings will highlight the need for greater border control before working through differences with a Senate bill that includes a plan to legalize undocumented immigrants who are currently here.

Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, said the hearings will give local law enforcement a chance to relate the challenge of patrolling the southern border.

"It is a story that I think is best told by those invested on the front lines rather than back in Washington by the officials," said Royce, who is chairman of the subcommittee on international terrorism and nonproliferation.

Critics say the regional hearings – which do not have a public comment period – are a way for anti-illegal immigration groups to drum up support for an enforcement-only approach before November's congressional elections.

"It is a dog-and-pony show really designed to mobilize the right wing of the Republican political base to shore up the flank for the November elections," said Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican American Political Association.

Lopez, who opposes the Senate and House bills, said he will also attend a community forum hosted by the American Friends Service Committee of San Diego, a human rights organization that will take public comment.

Arturo Guevara, an immigration activist from San Juan Capistrano, said he'd like to speak at the congressional hearings. But mainly, Guevara – who opposes building a wall on the Mexican border – said he'll to take notes and hear what border experts say.

"The worst we can do is not listen," said Guevara, who came to Orange County more than 30 years agofrom Mexico. "If we listen, we learn, because I know there are concerns on the American side. ... I recognize that."