Navarrette: Immigration panels are alarming

Ruben Navarrette
THE SAN DIEGO UNI*N-TRIBUNE
July 4, 2006

SAN DIEGO – Folks say this border city has been brazenly invaded by an unsavory and disruptive element that opportunistically puts its own interests before the greater good.

I never believed it – until lately. But what can I say now that America’s Finest City is crawling with Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives, who have come here to hold hearings on immigration reform?
San Diego plays host this week to the first of a series of public hearings on this combustible issue. The first hearing – ”Border Vulnerabilities and International Terrorism” – will be led by Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., who chairs the House International Relations subcommittee on international terrorism and nonproliferation.

A second hearing is scheduled later in the week in Laredo, Texas.

These hearings – like the one being held also this week by Senate Republicans in Philadelphia – only have one real purpose. And it’s not to hear what the public thinks. If Congress really cared what the public thought, it would hold these town hall-style meetings before considering bills, rather than after a bill is passed. The real purpose of the hearings is to make the case for the views of those who organize them, and to make mincemeat of any alternate views.

Imagine if Congress went out to the public and held town hall-style hearings every time it confronted a thorny subject that was sure to upset people. Have to vote on additional funding for the war? Hold a hearing. Feeling pressure to reform Social Security, and not sure whether to raise taxes or cut benefits? Call for hearings.

By the way, I must have missed the public hearing that was called before House members last month gave themselves a $3,300 annual pay raise to $168,500. Wouldn’t you love to have had a say on that one?

It’s sad. Americans used to look to Congress for leadership. But now what the institution does best is take direction from a mob.

This week, the crowds are expected to descend on a Border Patrol station in Imperial Beach, about 10 miles south of San Diego. A capacity crowd is expected inside the building. It’s supposed to be first-come, first-served. But, having attended similar town hall meetings in the past, I have a hunch that preference will be given to those who prefer the enforcement-only bill approved by the House as opposed to the comprehensive bill passed by the Senate, which includes provisions for guest workers and provides illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.

According to organizers, only invited speakers will be allowed to address the congressional panel.

Outside the building, there is likely to be a circus-like atmosphere with protesters facing off and screaming at each other. There is sure to be lots of posturing and finger-pointing, and very little listening. And there’s likely to be the whiff of something else. It’s the thing that fuels so much of the immigration restriction movement – the cultural alarm bells that America is changing in ways that a lot of people aren’t prepared to handle.

It’s ugly, but at least it’s honest. The movement even has its own spokesman, and he should figure prominently into the hearings.

If you can count on politicians to sometimes say dumb things, then Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., is a natural-born politician.

First, Bilbray told USA Today that President Bush ought to be investigated for not cracking down on employers of illegal immigrants. Then he warned supporters that if the United States didn’t solve the illegal immigration problem, we’d all end up living in a society where our grandchildren – gasp – have to learn Spanish. Then, during a radio interview on the night of his special election, he criticized his opponent, Democrat Francine Busby, not just for suggesting that one doesn’t need papers for voting, but also for what Bilbray considered the real infraction – speaking to voters who ”needed an interpreter.”

Now the newest member of Congress suggests that his colleagues are deciding immigration policy based on ”the Bilbray factor” – the assumption being that it was Bilbray’s hard-line opposition to giving illegal immigrants a path to legalization that sent him to Washington.

Never mind that in Utah, Rep. Chris Cannon beat back a primary challenge fueled by opposition to his support for comprehensive reform, including giving illegal immigrants a shot at citizenship. During the campaign, Cannon repeatedly said to voters, ”racism and xenophobia are not Republican virtues.”

Good for him. Let’s hope that Cannon is correct – and that the hearings confirm that.