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Source: PRESS RELEASE, 2/4/13
Tomorrow at 10:15 a.m., the House Judiciary Committee will hold a full Committee hearing on “America’s Immigration System: Opportunities for Legal Immigration and Enforcement of Laws against Illegal Immigration.” This is the first hearing of the House Judiciary Committee in the 113th Congress and is also the first hearing on immigration for either chamber this Congress. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) released the following statements in advance of tomorrow’s hearing.
Chairman Goodlatte: “This year, Congress will engage in a momentous debate on immigration. We all agree that our nation’s immigration system is in desperate need of repair and it is not working as efficiently and fairly as it should be. But before we rush to judgment, we need to carefully look at the current laws on the books to see what is and isn’t working. Reforming our nation’s immigration laws is a massive undertaking and is too important to not examine each piece in detail.”
Chairman Gowdy: “I am looking forward to the hearing so I might better answer a question I consistently get from my constituents which is: ‘In 1986 we were told immigration has been settled for time immemorial. We were told that in exchange for secure borders and employment verification, those who entered the country illegally would not suffer the full panoply of legal consequences. In the minds of many, the country got the amnesty but is still waiting on the border security and employment verification. Why should we believe you now?’”
Tomorrow’s hearing will have two witness panels. The first witness panel will examine our current legal immigration system and ways to improve it. Witnesses for the first panel include:
Vivek Wadhwa, Director of Research, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, Fellow, Stanford Law School, and Vice President of Innovation and Research, Singularity University;
Michael Teitelbaum, Senior Advisor, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Wertheim Fellow, Harvard Law School;
Dr. Puneet S. Arora; and
The Honorable Julian Castro, Mayor, San Antonio, Texas.
The second panel will discuss the extent to which our immigration laws have been enforced. Witnesses on the second panel include.
Julie Myers Wood, President, Guidepost Solutions LLC;
Chris Crane, President, National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council 118, American Federation of Government Employees;
Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies, Center for Immigration Studies; and
Muzaffar Chishti, Director of the Migration Policy Institute’s Office at New York University Law School Office.
All House Judiciary Committee hearings are webcast live at www.judiciary.house.gov.
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