http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/a ... -a-prayer/

Vigil precedes immigration hearing today in Evansville
By THOMAS B. LANGHORNE
Courier & Press staff writer 464-7432 or langhornet@courierpress.com
Originally published 12:00 a.m., August 29, 2006
Updated 12:00 a.m., August 29, 2006

OWENSBORO - Monday saw a whirlwind of activity as supporters of competing proposals to tackle illegal immigration staked out positions in anticipation of today's congressional hearing in Evansville.

The Catholic Diocese of Owensboro hosted an ecumenical prayer vigil at 7 p.m. to support the bill the U.S. Senate passed in May with President Bush's backing.


The House's bill, passed in December, focuses on border security, work site verification of all employees, felony charges for illegal immigrants and those housing or assisting them.

It also cracks down on employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Monday night's vigil at St. Stephen Cathedral attracted about 125 people, including bishops and ministers, such as Bishop Gerald Gettelfinger of Evansville.

The hourlong service attracted a largely Hispanic crowd, including many young families with children. Many speakers addressed the crowd in Spanish.

Ed Monahan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky, issued a ringing call to action.

"We must not remain on the sideline in this fight for justice," he said. "We have a responsibility to seek, through the conversion of the heart and the mind, enactment of just laws - laws that recognize every man and woman, documented or undocumented, in the image of God."

Noting that many of those present would attend today's hearing in Evansville, Monahan urged them not to be angry.

"As we work to secure public policy that treats immigrants justly, let our discourse be civil," he said.

Several other groups and politicians made their views known Monday in anticipation of today's 10 a.m. field hearing of the House Judiciary Committee at The Centre.

The hearing, one of several that have been held across the country this summer, is intended to make the case for the House bill and point out perceived shortcomings of the Senate's plan. It will examine the question of "how are U.S. workers impacted, and potentially displaced, by the (Senate) bill."

Three of the committee's 40 members - Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., Chairman Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. - are expected to attend. Four immigration experts, one chosen by Judiciary Committee Democrats, will testify. The public may attend, but not speak.


Photo by Elizabeth Fisco

Enrique Ambrocio sings with members of the Hispanic music group from Belleview Baptist Church during a prayer service at St. Stephen Cathedral in Owensboro, Ky., on Monday evening. Members of various churches attended the interfaith prayer vigil.
During a 2 p.m. news conference at The Centre, Hostettler and Sensenbrenner characterized the Senate plan as a form of amnesty for millions of foreigners violating U.S. immigration law.

Hostettler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee for Immigration, Border Security and Claims, said Congress must address the concerns of businesses competing with companies that hire illegal aliens.

"Several months ago, while I was gassing up my car, less than two-tenths of a mile from my house, a gentleman my wife and I went to high school with, said, 'John, I can take you to a work site right now where illegal aliens are working for my boss's competition,'" he said.

"He realizes that, as his boss's competition hires illegal aliens at a much lower wage, that his boss will somehow in the future be compelled to do likewise."

The differences between Bush and GOP conservatives, such as Hostettler, who back the House bill, also center on Bush's longtime advocacy of a guest-worker program that would allow millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S. to stay temporarily under certain conditions.

Within two hours of Hostettler's and Sensenbrenner's appearance at The Centre, Brad Ellsworth, Hostettler's Democratic challenger, held his own news conference outside his Fourth Street campaign headquarters.

Like Hostettler, Ellsworth opposes amnesty and supports the House bill - but he said Hostettler has been ineffective against a more than doubling of illegal immigrants since his election in 1994.

"Sure, we need to enact new measures, but even my opponent acknowledges that we're not adequately enforcing the laws we've already got on the books,"Ellsworth said in a news release."I think we need to ask: Why not?Why hasn't Congress done more to enforce the current laws and pass new ones cracking down on illegal immigration and denying amnesty?"

Also on Monday, the Evansville Hispanic Center and the Justice for Immigrants Coalition of Indiana announced that hundreds of "immigrants rights supporters" in Indiana and Kentucky will gather at the Center at 9 a.m. today to oppose the House bill and today's hearing.

"We are calling all those who support human rights to come to Evansville to protest this hearing," said Center Director Luis Evia.

Wilma Sandidge, coordinator of Hispanics of Owensboro Working for Friendship, said immigrants "do some of the hardest jobs in Kentucky, picking tobacco and working on hog farms."

"People will be coming from all over Kentucky to stand with the immigrants," Sandidge said.

The Hispanic Center and the Immigrants Coalition also said immigrant rights supporters "will be present, both inside the hearing and outside