Thread: GOP Hearings - 7/5 Imperial Beach & 7/7 Laredo Tx

GOP immigration hearing scheduled
Event to be held in Imperial Beach
By Hiram Soto
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 2, 2006
Imperial Beach will be at the center of the national immigration debate Wednesday when a congressional field hearing there promises to draw protesters from both sides of the issue.
It's one of several nationwide hearings organized by Republican leaders in the House of Representatives who say they will hold them before negotiating a compromise with the Senate.
The hearing, called Border Vulnerabilities and International Terrorism, Part I, will start at 9 a.m. at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station, 1802 Saturn Blvd., Imperial Beach. The second part will be Friday in Laredo, Texas.
The hearing will be headed by U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, who chairs the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation.
“This is a good way to highlight the problems with the Senate bill,” said newly elected Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad, who will be part of the congressional delegation at the event.
The Senate plan would beef up border enforcement, offer a path to legalization to millions of undocumented immigrants and create a guest worker program. The House plan focuses on border and interior enforcement.
Among the witnesses invited are Darryl Griffen, chief of the San Diego Border Patrol sector, and T.J. Bonner, head of the union that represents agents. Also invited are San Diego Sheriff Bill Kolender and Andy Ramírez of the border-watch group Friends of the Border Patrol.
The hearing will be open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis, but only the invited speakers will be allowed to address the panel. The Border Patrol station can hold more than 100 people.
Local religious leaders plan to hold a vigil outside, and another group plans to bring 4,000 crosses representing those who have died trying to cross the border illegally.
There also will be an “alternative” hearing at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Mountain View Community Center, 641 S. Boundary St., San Diego, where human rights advocates will listen to immigrants talk about their experiences.
“We are trying to call attention to the fact that they are only presenting one point of view, and that people are not being allowed to speak,” said the Rev. Patricia Andrews-Callori of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in National City. She belongs to the local chapter of the We Are America Coalition, a national alliance of labor, church and community groups that advocates a comprehensive approach to immigration reform.
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http://www.signonsandiego.com
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Is anyone aware of any plans for folks on our side of this issue to counter 'protest' against those planning a 'vigil' on the 5th or in Laredo on Friday?

“We are trying to call attention to the fact that they are only presenting one point of view, and that people are not being allowed to speak,”

It seems to me that this group has done all the speaking and the only voices silenced are the American citizens being victimized by the entire process.

I am tired of hearing guilt messages about those who die attempting to cross that border illegally. Those messages should be directed at the Mexican Government who encourages the action and fails to provide opportunities for decent wage jobs within their own country! The Mexican government taking responsiblity for its own would go a LONG way in reducing the deaths attributed to attempts to cross the border illegally.

I don't hear any of the families who are grieving from the loss of a family member at the hands of an illegal alien spewing guilt! THAT is the group of people who are not being heard!

xanadu,

Exactly! On all counts.

Stay home. MSM, start telling the true story.

I am tired of hearing guilt messages about those who die attempting to cross that border illegally.

I am tired of hearing about those who die trying to cross also. First off the number of deaths tryind to cross is very, very small compared to the number of illegals who make it across alive and well to live of our paychecks.
Second of all, they put themselves there. The people that cross the desert did so of their own free will, nobody MADE them do it.

Personal responsibility is something that is sorely lacking in our society in all things. Personal responsibility is something that needs to be brought back, somehow we lost that along the way along with so many other things.

I am so dam tired of liberals being politically correct at the expense of my great Country, we can no longer afford to be so polite and compassionate, we no longer have that luxuary. Charity begins at home,let's take care of Americans for a change, we are already hated and reviled by most countries, so let's give them a dam good reason for feeling that way!

Originally Posted by nittygritty

I am so dam tired of liberals being politically correct at the expense of my great Country, we can no longer afford to be so polite and compassionate, we no longer have that luxuary. Charity begins at home,let's take care of Americans for a change, we are already hated and reviled by most countries, so let's give them a dam good reason for feeling that way!

Way to go NITTY!
Simply stated and a powerful message!!

I planned 2 trips to Laredo and it just didn't work out!
I'll be there in spirit!

Dixie

2ndamendsis, thanks, I take that as a great compliment coming from you! thanks for the good work you do here.