Congressional Republicans, who last December advocated and passed HR 4437, a draconian “immigration reform” measure that essentially criminalized all undocumented immigrants living within the United States, have continued to advocate their approach over the summer as media and political attention has shifted away from the topic. Congressional Republicans have organized an extensive public relations effort to advocate for the passage of a bill restricting immigration before the end of the year, including an almost daily “Border Security Bulletin” that touts the hearings being held by the House of Representatives, media coverage that promotes strict immigration controls, and detailed arguments against the legislation that came out of the Senate which many Congressional Republicans see as an “amnesty” bill. In June, the House Republicans released a “statement of principles” outlining their positions on immigration (or “border security” as they have attempted to re-term the issue in order to force people to accept the premise that the borders are both not secure and that they need to be secured further) that included statements advocating for additional border patrol efforts, strengthening enforcement, requiring immigrants to assimilate and to learn the English language, increasing penalties for immigrants that break the law, and opposing efforts to “reward the behavior of illegal immigrants who have made the choice to break the laws.” According to an article published in the July 17, 2006 issue of the National Review (http://www.gop.gov/docs/July%2011%20Americas%20Voices%20on%20Border%20Security.pdf), “a unified House GOP caucus has decided to go on offense in order to wring the maximum political credit from being on the right side of their reading of public opinion” and is intending to “avoid the appearance of compromising” on the Senate bill, and in the words of an aide cited in the article, have “no intention in taking part in a conference [committee] to hammer out the differences between the House and Senate bills” unless there is a dramatic change in the Senate bill or in how congressional Republicans interpret public opinion.

One way in which House Republicans are shaping the debate on the issue is through an extensive schedule of hearings on the issue over the summer. Republicans have held hearings with titles such as “Should we Embrace the Senate’s Grant of Amnesty to Millions of Illegal Aliens and Repeat the Mistakes of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986” (House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims), “Guest Worker Programs: Impact on American Workforce and United States Immigration Policy” (Education and Workforce Committee), and “Expanding the Border Fence” (Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Cybersecurity). In addition to inviting media and supporters to the hearing, Republicans follow-up on the hearings with press releases containing statements from various people testifying as a means of further spreading their message. Republicans have also taken these hearings outside of Congress and held a hearing on “Border Vulnerabilities and International Terrorism” at a Border Patrol station in San Diego. Recently they announced a slate of twenty-one “Field Hearings” in thirteen states on topics such as “How do illegal immigrants impact the costs of healthcare, local education, and other social services, and would these costs increase under Reid-Kennedy immigration bill?” “How are U. S. workers impacted, and potentially displaced, by the Reid-Kennedy bill?” and “Do the Reid-Kennedy bill’s amnesty provisions repeat the mistakes of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986?.” The hearings are being held by a variety of House Committees including the Administration, Armed Services, Homeland Security, Judiciary, and the Select Committee on Intelligence. As part of this schedule of field hearings, a hearing will be held here in Grand Rapids, Michigan on August 23rd by the House Select Committee on Intelligence with the title “What is the Threat to the United States from Islamic Extremists who abuse the Legal Immigration System?.” The House Select Committee on Intelligence is chaired by Holland area congressperson Pete Hoekstra who voted in favor of HR 4437 in December of 2005.

House Republicans have also made use of the media and their “Border Security Bulletins” frequently tout media coverage and conservative columnists that seem to bolster their case for new immigration legislation based on their aforementioned principles. For example, on July 26, 2006, their Bulletin featured an article written by Congressperson Howard P. “Buck” McKeon for Human Events Online that criticized the Senate’s immigration bill for not being strong enough in its advocacy for the English language and the need to ensure that “those coming to America… learn English and assimilate into our society,” suggesting that Republicans have not dropped their desire for making English a national language. The Republicans’ effort has highlighted the views of prominent conservatives in the media, including the Washington Times’ citations of numerous conservative studies to conclude that the Senate bill would guarantee higher wages for immigrants than United States citizens and allow 100 million immigrants in over the next 20 years, a column by conservative Robert Novak claiming that the Senate bill has holes that would open the country to terrorist attacks, and even citing “letters to the editor” published in various newspapers as proof that the majority of United States citizens want an aggressive approach towards immigration. As has been the case since September 11, 2001, Republicans are also attempting to bring the terrorists attacks of September 11 into the debate, with the Bulletin including a message from a father of a 9/11 victim claiming that the Senate immigration bill would not take terrorism seriously and highlighting their assertion that Egyptian Mahmud Abouhalima, who participated in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, was granted “amnesty” due to liberal immigration laws.

Once again, one of the lessons that can be learned from this is that the public relations system utilized by the rightwing in this country is considerably more significant than that of the Democrats or what constitutes the “left.” Congressional Republicans—aided by armed vigilantes and racist groups such as the Minutemen who make them seem more “reasonable”—have been able to control the immigration debate to the point where there are no questions about the underlying racism and disregard for basic human rights inherent in declaring a person “illegal.” The prominence of Republican views has led Democrats to support “border security” including the extension a fence along the United States-Mexico border and the continued militarization of the border and has once again setup a Congressional debate where there is no meaningful discussion and where basic underlying principles are left unchallenged and the only question is the degree to which immigrants will be criminalized. This situation has been exacerbated by the fact that many immigrant rights groups have split over the question of whether or not to support the Senate’s immigration bill, with some advocating its passage while others oppose it. While such differences are not entirely unsurprising, they have created a situation where House Republicans by virtue of their coordinated message, have been able to continue to promote their draconian approach.