Immigration meeting tonight at Geneva library

By Matthew DeFour
Staff writer

GENEVA — They've shouted across police barriers in the street outside House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office in Batavia.

Now, both sides of the immigration reform debate will have the chance to air their views again — but perhaps a little more quietly, since tonight's forum is at the library.

John Laesch, Hastert's Democratic challenger in the November election, has organized a town hall meeting on Immigration from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. today at the Geneva Public Library, 127 James St.

The event is scheduled to feature a guest panel with representatives from the Illinois Minuteman Project and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, as well as private immigration lawyer Robert Perkins and Aurora University professor Michael De Haven.

The audience will have an opportunity to share their views and ask questions of the panel.

Immigration has been a hot-button topic since the House passed a reform bill last December that focused on border security and penalizing the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. A Senate bill passed earlier this year creates a pathway to citizenship for many of those undocumented workers.

In the most recent development, Hastert has called for a series of hearings in border states to review the Senate legislation before the bills are reconciled in a conference committee. Laesch has called the hearings "nothing more than a taxpayer-funded political stunt."

"Dennis Hastert is using the taxpayers' money to hold hearings in at least 12 states, but does not want to look his constituents in the face and answer tough questions that concern families here," Laesch said. "Instead he is combining a fund-raising tour with August hearings that seems deliberately calculated to drag the immigration debate beyond the 2006 election."

Hastert spokesman Brad Hahn confirmed the speaker won't attend tonight's meeting.

He noted that Hastert has been working on the issue for months, having met with Hispanic leaders in the district, and most recently touring the border states to get a better handle on the issue.

"We have an ongoing conversation with our constituents that will continue beyond the election," Hahn said. "The dialogue with our constituents does not need to occur on our opponent's time line."

Illinois Minuteman Project Director Rosanna Pulido will be on the panel representing her group's position that the country should enforce existing immigration laws.

She said she was glad Hastert has called for national hearings on immigration legislation before Congress, but was disappointed that the debate hasn't happened sooner in the 14th Congressional District.

"I'm glad (Laesch) is doing it because Hastert should have done it," Pulido said. "It's a very important issue."

08/08/06

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