July 5, 2006
GOP Holding "Dog and Pony Show" Immigration Hearings - Next Attempt to Strengthen Base Before Elections?
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
Months after a House vote on immigration that sought to make illegal immigration a felony, House Republicans held the first of a series of hearings today along the US-Mexico border. The issue has been in limbo because the Senate's immigration bill was vastly different, focusing instead on ways to better accommodate the millions of illegal aliens already in the country.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), ranking member of the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation, which is holding the hearings, criticized what he saw as a mere political ploy. "I am surprised that Republican leadership has embarked (on this) series of dog and pony shows," he said. "They've got some really mangy dogs and some really ugly ponies after six mangy years of failure to control our borders, and six ugly years of failure to devise and enforce an immigration policy."
"We have two signs up on our border: 'Help Wanted' and 'Keep Out,'" Sherman lamented. He also noted his committee's lack of jurisdiction on the issue.
Sherman's Press Secretary, Mike Briggs, told BuzzFlash.com that Republicans have "controlled Washington the past six years but have been unable to control our borders." Briggs said it was "unusual" to hold hearings after a vote has already occurred. "This is being done the opposite way of how it's usually done."
Briggs added that Republicans would be "missing the boat if they are making Mexican immigration a national security issue" by having a subcommittee on terrorism investigate, noting that the northern border has proved to be much more significant in the War on Terror.
Many Democrats have condemned the hearings as a waste of time to delay another vote while arousing conservative support before the elections. Many of the witnesses being called are staunch supporters of the previous House proposal, such as a professor who wrote an article calling the Senate bill "Pro-Terror" and the chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol, who has organized so-called "Minutemen" groups.
Another witness, Reynaldo Garza, who is scheduled to testify Friday, already spoke at a House immigration hearing on November 17, 2005 when the original proposal was being considered.
"This is a charade," said Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) of the new hearings. "It's a cover-up for the fact that they can't produce a bill and they can't secure our borders."
Also today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on immigration at which New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said his city would be "a shell of itself" without illegal immigrants. "It would collapse if they were deported. The same holds true for the nation."
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT