August 16, 2004

Reports on the Temecula townhall meeting

Three more reports about the Temecula townhall meeting where DHS Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson was repeatedly booed by over 1000 citizens are available:

The North County Times' "Cheers, jeers at immigration town hall meeting": A town hall meeting that was supposed to ease concerns about illegal immigration in the region left many frustrated with top federal officials... "You've got a group of people here who are very concerned, and they're not getting any straight answers," [Former Lake Elsinore Mayor Kevin Pape] said. "They're (Hutchinson and Issa) speaking in generalities with no specifics. People are concerned and their concerns are not being addressed correctly."

The Press Enterprise's "Vocal crowd presses for renewed sweeps": "Our operations to enforce the immigration laws have not been halted, they have not been stopped, they have not been intimidated," [Hutchinson] said... Throughout the two-hour meeting, members of the audience verbally assaulted Hutchinson and Issa... "Put the military on the border," "Stop lying!" and "Arrest and fine the people who hire them," people yelled from their seats... Border Patrol agents attending Friday's meeting said they weren't convinced that the administration is doing everything it can to stem the surge of undocumented immigrants into the United States... "They're dodging the questions," said Christopher Bauder, executive vice president of the San Diego chapter of the National Border Patrol Council, a union of Border Patrol agents. "Their answers make the public believe we're doing our job when we really aren't."

The L.A. Times highlights T.J. Bonner's "Why don't you let us do our jobs?" quote in "Unfetter Border Patrol, Angry Group Demands": "Whenever you're getting criticized by both sides of the immigration debate, it probably means you're doing this [fairly]," Hutchinson said... "We have to ask 'mother may I?' all the way to Washington, D.C., in order to conduct an operation in San Diego," Bonner said... "These mobile patrol arrests were actually having an impact in Mexico. Word was getting around that you weren't necessarily OK once you got past the border."

UPDATE: The WashTimes report "Limits sought on Border Patrol" mentions the meeting and a few other items.

Posted to Immigration2004 at August 16, 2004 11:48 AM

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