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Immigration Hearing Spawns Protests


Scott Myrick
WNEG NewsChannel 32
Monday, August 14, 2006


"These Congressional hearings are a sham. They're a dog and pony show -- shame on Congressman Deal, shame on Congressman Norwood for having these instead of working on true reform," Jerry Gonzalez tells NewsChannel 32.
He leads GALEO, the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials.

He believes what the House of Representatives calls solutions will really only make the problem of illegal immigration worse.

The House, he says, is only concerned with "enforcement" -- keeping undocumented workers out of the country.

But He and his supporters want "comprehensive" reforms, which would make it easier for people to work legally in the United States.

"Where would Gainesville and Dalton be without the immigrants that have come here to provide the much-needed labor to these communities," Gonzalez says.

While Gonzalez' supporters fear the House is merely trying to excite the passions of an anti-immigrant movement, he is comforted by work in the U.S. Senate.

"The Senate bill takes a more comprehensive approach. It provides legal visas, it provides a guest worker program and provides a path to citizenship," he says.

But others have a different view on what immigration reform should be.

"I don't know what the exact answer is as far as what to do with the ones that are already hear other than deport them. And we need to secure our borders as they are now, and stop the flow of illegal immigration," Ann Teague of Gainesville tells us.

But even these anti-immigration protesters have concerns about new legislation in the House, since there are already laws on the books.

"The county's based on the rule of law -- not everybody's interpretation of it. We need to enforce the rule of law," Nick Nickerson says.

"It's crippling out health system, it's crippling our public education system -- our schools cannot handle all the children of illegal aliens," Teague says.

Which side wins out, congressmen hope will be decided in the hearings