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Pew Hispanic Center to Appear as Witness at Anti-Immigration Hearing

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Pew Hispanic CenterOn Thursday, March 10, 2011, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration is holding another in its series of blatantly anti-immigration hearings.

The Subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA)Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and Gallegly are all proponents of the “attrition through enforcement” policy, which is DC-speak for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

Gallegly’s immigration hearings have generated enormous controversy and rancor. Gallegly has been advancing a divisive approach that pits groups against each other in a blatant attempt to stoke racial fears and economic anxiety.  In fact, the headline from last week’s panel in Gallegly’s home district newspaper was: Immigration hearing turns into racial battle.

In Thursday’s hearing, titled “Jobs in Recession and Recovery: Who Are Getting Them and Who Are Not,” the Subcommittee is expected to compare the job prospects of U.S. workers who were born outside of the country—including millions of citizens and legal residents who pay taxes, create jobs, serve in the military, and vote—with the prospects for U.S.-born workers.  It’s not a difficult guess to determine which group will come up short.  Hint: It won’t be U.S. born citizens.  So, after trying to create racial strife last week, Gallegly’s aim this week is to drive a wedge between native born and foreign born citizens. Yeah, it’s citizen vs. citizen.

Two of the organizations represented on the panel, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), are adherents of the mass deportation strategy and willingly join in on any effort to bash immigrants.