By Guy Smith and Jonathan Tang, USCM Intern
July 24, 2006

In an unusual move this summer, following passage of immigration reform legislation last year in the House and this year in the Senate, both chambers scheduled field hearings outside the nation’s capital.

The House Judiciary Committee held the first field hearing in San Diego July 5. The Senate Judiciary Committee followed suit and scheduled their own field hearings, beginning July 10 in Philadelphia. Other committees have since scheduled their own hearings.

The parallel House and Senate bills on immigration reform differ sharply. The House version, sponsored by Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Sensenbrenner (WI), focuses on tougher border security, work site verification of all employees, and felony charges for illegal immigrants and those housing or assisting them.

In contrast, the Senate bill, sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (PA) and supported by President Bush, proposes a guest worker program allowing for an additional 200,000 immigrants a year, as well as an eventual path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S.

As a result, the immigration issue has come to the forefront of the national debate. Until recently, hearings on immigration have taken place in Washington (DC), but as the debate spreads beyond the Beltway, mayors have begun to voice their opinions on immigration reform.

In Philadelphia, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg testified before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary July 5. As mayor of the largest city in America and home to an estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants, Bloomberg emphasized New York City’s economic dependence on these immigrants, which “would collapse if they were deported.” “The same holds true for the nation,” he went on to add, before criticizing both the House and Senate bills as “short-sighted” and “flawed,” respectively.

Instead, Bloomberg presented an approach revolving around four principles: reducing incentives, creating more lawful opportunity, reducing illegal access, and accepting the realities of the situation, in an effort to allow those wishing to live and work in the United States a legal means to do so, while also allowing the nation as a whole to continue to benefit from immigrant participation in the economy. Bloomberg further called upon Congress to “lead from the front, not the back,” on the issues of immigration, asking it to “adopt a solution that is enforceable, sustainable, and compassionate.”

Also present in Philadelphia was Hazleton (PA) Mayor Louis Barletta, who spoke out against illegal immigrants in his community. Barletta described legislation he proposed to, and was tentatively passed by his city council, the Illegal Immigration Relief Act. The legislation would “punish companies that hire[d] illegal immigrants... would hold landlords accountable… and [would make] English the language of official city business in Hazleton.”

At the U.S./Mexico border in Laredo (TX), new Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas testified before the House Committee on International Relations July 7. He was joined at the hearing by former Mayor Elizabeth G. Flores, who until she left office, was co-chair of the Conference of Mayors Borders Task Force.

As a former Capitol Hill Police Officer and retired FBI Special Agent, Salinas recommended that Congress improve national security through a program emphasizing the promotion of efficient borders.

Salinas’ proposals included the River Bend Security Road Project, a $3 million grant designed to improve mobility and access into secluded areas around the Rio Grande River, an emphasis on the border when funding the COPS program, the inclusion of border communities into Urban Area Security Initiatives criteria, a U.S./Mexico border health region with dedicated funds, and the extension of port grants to land ports as well.

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz was at a Miami hearing on immigration held by the Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by Senator John Warner (VA) July 10. At the hearing, General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave an emotional speech describing his Italian immigrant father and the opportunities that became available to him and his family.

“There is no other country on the planet that affords that kind of opportunity to those who come here,” said Pace, describing the experiences of his older siblings, one a lawyer, another a Marine.

Field hearings will continue to take place during the August recess.

During the 2006 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, the Conference adopted comprehensive policy related to immigration reform. The policy calls for legislation that;

• strengthens border security;

• includes a fair and efficient guest worker program, provided: they have not committed serious crimes; have learned, or are in the process of learning English; and pay taxes and social security on their earnings;

• provides a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented people in the United States

• does not criminalize undocumented workers for their presence in the United States; and

• does not require cities, without reimbursement or training, to enforce immigration violations, or reduce local government’s Federal grants in an attempt to coerce them into enforcing Federal immigration laws.