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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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?