COMMENTARY
HOUSTON CHRONICLE (Editorial): Sideshow: Theatrical anti-immigrant hearings don't excuse Congress from doing its job
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 19, 2006
Surprisingly, the anti-immigration scare-fest hosted in Houston this week by a U.S House subcommittee might have proved a useful point.
The hearing — or roadshow, as Democratic Rep. Gene Green aptly put it — was predictable. A cavalcade of witnesses supported the enforcement-only immigration bill approved by the House. They described a violence-wracked border, foreign sociopaths and Middle Eastern terrorists poised to invade from the south.
Yet their overheated testimony added little insight. A few witnesses, including Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt, tried to provide a reality check. Enacting a measure making police enforce immigration law, Hurtt said, would force Houston to hire 2,000 to 2,500 more officers.
But when Dennis Nixon, chairman of Laredo's International Bank of Commerce, argued that he feels safe in his city, things got ugly. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, mocked Nixon's integrity.
Depressingly, exaggeration and incivility have typified many of the 21 hearings scheduled. At best, these meetings are pep rallies for the House majority's extremist take on immigration reform. At worst, they're noisy filibusters, meant to delay Congress from acting on immigration at all.
Here's where the surprise comes in. Citizens incensed by this theater are protesting.
Last week, mayors from three Texas border counties held a press conference to denounce the hearing's inflammatory tone. The El Paso police chief declared forcing police officers to enforce immigration laws wouldn't work.
Those protests have surprised some who assumed the House hearings would be one-note events. Even more promising is the public's engagement. In Houston, about 100 people for and 100 against the hearing gathered outside to express their views.
Show events though they may be, the House hearings have inadvertently shown something authentic: Americans demand reform. After careening through the country this summer crying "Fire," lawmakers had better go to Washington and do something about it.
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