Senate Turns Away U.S. Citizens to Make Way for Illegal Aliens

By Julie Kirchner, FAIR Executive Director

There were already signs that Tuesday's Senate hearing on the DREAM Act amnesty legislation was going to be a circus. The witness list was packed with heavy-hitters: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano; Education Secretary Arne Duncan; and Dr. Clifford Stanley, Undersecretary of Defense. There were also reports that the amnesty lobby was bussing in illegal aliens to pressure members of Congress to pass amnesty legislation that would benefit them personally--at the expense of the American worker, legal aliens waiting years in line, and the rule of law. However, the ultimate shocker came when I learned that the U.S. Senate was turning away citizens who came to listen to the hearing in order to make room for illegal aliens. Yes, that's right. Staff for the United States Senate told our staff and other citizens hoping to watch the hearing and see their government at work that only press and congressional staff were allowed in the hearing room. Meanwhile, they were escorting streams of illegal aliens into the Senate hearing room. How do we know they were illegal aliens? When Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), who chaired the hearing, asked members of the audience who qualify for the DREAM Act to stand, almost the entire room stood up. Apparently, Senate leaders have decided that American citizens are no longer entitled to American jobs, and they are no longer entitled to watch the Senate give them away.