Appalling Republican Questioning

Appalling Republican Questioning

I tuned my TV in to the rebroadcast of the hearing on Immigration Activity: Section 287(g) Immigration and Nationality Act. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act today. (Best I could do, but I guess you can find it if you need to.)

It was chaired by Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, with Republican Rep. Steve King as the ranking member. I could not believe my ears when I realized the direction in which he was going. Thank God that Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Democrat, Illinois 4th Dist., chose to be sure that the hearing and the public could understand what was really going on.

There were three witnesses on the first panel, two Hispanics. One, an older man, has been a citizen for many years. The other, a young man in his twenties, who was born here. The third witness was an American whose daughter and another girl were killed by an illegal immigrant who was driving drunk. The two hispanic men have been arrested or otherwise hassled by law enforecement officers numerous times, chosen because they looked hispanic rather than that they were doing anything wrong. (As an aside, can you imagine how nervous you would be if you were testifying before a government panel, even if it had nothing to do with you?! Talk about courage!)

The other witnesses and the entire panel expressed their sorrow for the father’s loss. But Rep. King chose to dwell on the fact that his daughter had been killed by an illegal immigrant, rather than that she had been killed by a drunk driver.

There are a couple of things that should be pointed out here. First of all, there was a lot of testimony about the fact that most of the people in prison down south are Mexican. They are the only country that borders on ours, except for Canada, a largely white country with a totally different relationship with ours. As the world population (my “favorite” subject) swells, and its resources and education decline, it is desparation that drives peoples all over the world, especially in this case, to seek a different life. It should be obvious that the jails would contain mainly desparate Mexicans. Sure, there are a lot of vicious criminals down there, but the U.S. has its own supply to worry about as well.

Rep. King’s whole point was that if the drunken driver had not gotten here illegally, the dead girls would still be alive. For God’s sake, have you any idea how many people are killed in this country by other natural-born citizens of this country every year?! This hearing was supposed to be about illegal immigration, not drunken driving. That should take place in another court!

ARW
4/4/09