The Immigration Commission Meeting

was apparently a relatively rowdy affair! I wish I could have made it and not have to rely on the local news media for the play-by-play, but I'm afraid that was not possible. Here are a few snippets from today's Huntsville Times:

As police tried to quiet the taunts, the first Hispanic speaker of the night continued to argue that undocumented workers aren't criminals, that there were more worthy topics for statewide study.

But after an hour of hearing just the opposite, after hearing a series of speakers suggest everything from illegal immigrants drive down working wages to they spread leprosy, the audience loudly objected.

[snip]

Rosa Toussaint Ortiz, raised in Puerto Rico but a Huntsville resident since 1985, suggested the state ought to create a panel to instead probe domestic violence, or homelessness, or why so few blacks are involved in local politics.

"Where are the African Americans?" she asked repeatedly, pointing at the largely white and middle-aged audience. At that point, a police officer had to walk into the center of the hall to stop the public hearing and calm the crowd.

Once Ortiz regained the floor, she concluded: "Fear is driving much of the conversation over immigration."

Somewhere in all of these pleasant back-and-forths the Huntsville police had to step in to restore some order, but the dialogue continued to be heated:

Phil Goodale, chapter leader of the North Alabama Minutemen, linked illegal immigration to tuberculosis and drugs in public schools. "We need to end public assistance period for any undocumented people."

Marie Gray, also of the Minutemen, earned one of many loud rounds of applause when she said: "This is not about race. It's not even about a particular group of people. It's about the law." She said some illegals may be hard workers but others may be drug smugglers or rapists.

I was more than a little taken aback to find that we have a chapter of the Minutemen somewhere around here and I'm not at all sure if this thought doesn't frighten me much more than the thought of illegal immigrants!

Two hours into the public hearing, Jose Guerrero of Athens became the second Hispanic speaker to approach the microphone. He told the audience he felt like a goldfish in a bowl of piranha.

Guerrero, who was born in the states, praised the United States and asked of the panel only one thing: "Tell the governor there are Hispanic citizens out there, too."

I have long felt that the only answer to the immigration problem is some sort of amnesty program, but if we keep losing construction jobs at the pace we have for the past few months there will be no jobs even for the undocumented ones!

Go read the Huntsville Times article for more of the flavor for the love felt amongst the two sides!

[a further update] Here is what Bud Cramer has to say over on his official House website:

"Our communities should not have to cope with the influx of those who break our laws and settle in our area illegally. Anyone who wishes to enter our country must follow our nation's immigration rules and procedures and those who choose to bypass the system and enter our country unlawfully should be sent back to their home country. I do not support an Amnesty program.



"Illegal immigration jeopardizes our national security. We cannot protect our nation if we are unable to control our borders and know who is entering and leaving our country.”

Bud's immigration position page has his less than progressive views on dealing with immigration. Go read it all!