Senate Subcommittee to Hold Hearing on Amnesty

From FAIR's Government Relations team
The Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship will hold a hearing on Thursday, April 30 at 2:00 PM entitled "Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009, Can We Do It and How?"

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) took over the chairmanship of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee after Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) stepped down from the post late last year. As a Member of the House of Representatives, Schumer - who will preside over the hearing - was instrumental in brokering a compromise on the highly ineffective Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, a bill that granted amnesty to millions of illegal aliens in exchange for false promises that provisions in the bill would stem the tide of illegal immigration. In a Newsday interview last Friday, Schumer stated that the problem with the 1986 amnesty was that "no one believed it was tough enough on illegal immigration, and it didn't give enough flexibility on future legal immigration."

While the hearing will not focus on any specific piece of legislation, FAIR has obtained a list of several witnesses the Democratic majority has invited to testify:

- J. Thomas Manger, Montgomery County, MD Chief of Police - Manger has been an outspoken critic of the 287(g) program, which allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enter into agreements to train state and local law enforcement agencies in the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
- Alan Greenspan, Economist and Former Federal Reserve Chairman - Greenspan has repeatedly called for eased restrictions on immigration. In March 2007, Greenspan spoke positively about immigration saying that America should open the immigration floodgates in an effort to suppress the wages of American workers. In his own words: "Our skilled wages are higher than anywhere in the world. If we open up a significant window for skilled workers, that would suppress the skilled-wage level...."The Baltimore Sun has suggested that Greenspan will argue at the hearing that granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens will somehow benefit the economy.
- Dr. Joel C. Hunter, Member of President Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships - Hunter, who also serves as the Senior Pastor at the Northland Church in Longwood, Florida, is a member of "Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform" - an organization that supports amnesty for illegal aliens.
- Eliseo Medina, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) International Executive Vice President - Medina recently endorsed an amnesty bill outline authored by the two most prominent labor union coalitions: AFL-CIO and Change to Win. SEIU is a member of the Change to Win coalition.
- Doris Meissner, Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Senior Fellow - Meissner was the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization Services under President Bill Clinton and has advised the Obama Administration on immigration policy.

True immigration reformers will have at least one ally at the hearing. Kris Kobach, whose impressive resume includes working as Senior Counsel for the Immigration Reform Law Institute (FAIR's legal affiliate) and as a Professor of Immigration Law and Constitutional Law at the University of Missouri (Kansas City), will testify at the hearing, as well. Kobach is an expert in the inherent authority of local law enforcement to make immigration arrests, having published an article in the Albany Law Review on this issue. Additionally, Kobach was involved in overseeing the implementation of the first two 287(g) agreements as Counsel to the U.S. Attorney General from 2001 to 2003 and has testified before Congress in support of this valuable program.

The hearing can be viewed by following this link and clicking on the "Webcast" button. Also, FAIR's Government Relations staff will Twitter live from the event. You can follow that stream here.

FAIR urges you to call the Members of the subcommittee and tell them that you are opposed to amnesty:

Democratic Members:
- Chuck Schumer (NY) (Chairman): (202)-224-6542
- Patrick J. Leahy (VT): (202)-224-4242
- Dianne Feinstein (CA): (202)-224-3841
- Dick Durbin (IL): (202)-224-2152
- Sheldon Whitehouse (RI): (202)-224-2921
- Ron Wyden (OR): (202)-224-5244

Republican Members:
- John Cornyn (TX) (Ranking Member): (202)-224-2934
- Chuck Grassley (IA): (202)-224-3744
- Jon Kyl (AZ): (202)-224-4521
- Jeff Sessions (AL): (202)-224-4124