Hot seat: Brian Bilbray

By UNION-TRIBUNE
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at midnight

Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad, chairs the House Immigration Reform Caucus. He was among the pubic officials interviewed Sunday by Jake Tapper on ABC News' "This Week" about his support for Arizona's controversial immigration law. The following are condensed and edited excerpts of Tapper's and Bilbray's exchanges.

TAPPER: There’s been a lot of overheated rhetoric in this debate. Last month, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said a majority of illegal immigrants are “in my opinion – and I think in the opinion of law enforcement – not coming here to work ... they’re bringing drugs, and they’re doing drop houses, and they’re extorting people, and they’re terrorizing the familiesâ€