House Immigration Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Flake-Gutierrez Amnesty Bill

House Immigration Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Flake-Gutierrez Amnesty Bill
Last Thursday the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law held a hearing on the Flake-Gutierrez amnesty bill (H.R. 1645, otherwise known as the STRIVE Act). Chairwoman Zoë Lofgren (D-CA) began the hearing by stating she was personally disappointed when the Senate failed to enact "comprehensive immigration reform" legislation over the summer and vowed to continue working on this issue. Ranking Member Steve King (R-IA) decried the Flake-Gutierrez as amnesty and urged the witnesses to simply acknowledge that fact so that the debate could proceed openly.

The hearing had two panels of witnesses. The first panel consisted of Congressmen Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Joe Baca (D-CA), Ray LaHood (R-IL), and Brian Bilbray (R-CA). The Second panel consisted of policy experts (including FAIR's Government Relations Director) and individuals involved in the immigration reform debate. Interestingly, Congressman Flake immediately acknowledged the unlikelihood that the bill would move this year or even before the next election. He then disputed Congressman King's claim that the bill was an amnesty and said the bill was not comparable to the 1986 amnesty because of the fines and other requirements. He argued that the definition of amnesty was an "unconditional pardon" and that this legislation represented nothing of the sort. Congressman Bilbray retorted that rewarding illegal activity was nothing if not amnesty and a sure-fire way to encourage more of it was to pass mass amnesty legislation such as the Flake-Gutierrez bill.

From the second panel, much attention was given to two witnesses, Mr. Tony Wasilewski and Mr. Eduardo Gonzales, both legal immigrants whose wives had been deported. Chairwoman Lofgren and Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) — who is both a Member of the Subcommittee and an author of the legislation — attempted to portray these individuals as examples of how the current system is unfair to aliens who violate the law. Julie Kirchner, Director of Government Relations at FAIR, argued that a legitimate immigration system is not one that rewards illegal aliens, but instead encourages those who come to the U.S. legally and wait patiently for years in their home countries in order to have their chance to live the American dream.