200 attend Evansville immigration hearing

EVANSVILLE — Supporters of immigrant rights waved small American flags while others called for strict border control during a federal hearing on immigration.\nMore than two dozen hearings by the House Judiciary Committee have been held around the country during the last two months, including the one in Evansville attended by 200 people Tuesday night.\nHouse GOP leaders called the hearings to highlight differences between the enforcement-only bill that the House passed in December and a Senate bill approved in May, which would establish a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for many who are in the country illegally.\nBut Democrats and immigrant groups have questioned the need for the hearings because such meetings are typically held before legislation is passed — not after. Critics call the hearings an election-year tactic to delay negotiations on the competing immigration bills passed by the House and Senate.\nRep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the lone Democrat among the four congressmen who heard testimony Tuesday in Evansville, urged a compromise with the Senate.\n"We must roll up our sleeves and get to work on solving the problems created by the Bush administration instead of spreading fear of immigrants and driving further wedges between our citizens," he said.\nBut Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Reps. John Hostettler, R-Ind., and Steve King, R-Iowa, said tough employer sanctions and penalties would drive illegal residents out of the country by eliminating their jobs.\nOutside The Centre in the southwestern Indiana city, supporters of immigrant rights carried small American flags and displayed signs supporting the Senate bill.\nFreddie Peralta, a Dominican Republic native who said he is a legal immigrant living in Lexington, Ky., distributed flags and talked with people waiting in line to enter.\n"The current immigration system is broken," Peralta said. "It doesn't work, so people are forced to come to this country without documentation."\nBut Evansville resident Gene Thweatt disagreed.\n"We must control our borders or we're no longer a sovereign nation," said Thweatt, 73. "We did (amnesty) in 1986, and this is the result."\nThe recent immigration hearings have generally involved officials, academics and activists discussing the issue, and Evansville's was no different.\nSteven Camarota, director of research for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, said a recent study shows immigration reduces wages by 4 percent for all workers and 7 percent for those lacking a high school education.\n"Why do illegals reduce wages? The main reason is not so much that they work for less," Camarota said. "Instead, it's basic economics: Increase the supply of something — in this case less-educated workers — and you lower its price."\nRicardo Parra of the Midwest Council of La Raza cited studies that he said dispute such claims.\n"Immigrant labor is needed to fill jobs in the U.S. that an older, more educated American work force is not willing to fill, especially at the low wages and poor working conditions many unscrupulous employers offer," Parra said.