WASHINGTON -- A group of Democratic members of Congress opposed to Alabama's immigration law will be in Birmingham later this month to draw attention to what they say is a civil rights emergency.
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., met with seven colleagues plus staff members from more than a dozen other offices Wednesday to plan a public meeting in Birmingham for them to hear testimony from people affected by the law. The schedule has not been set, but it likely will be either Nov. 21 or Nov. 28, Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez has become the leading congressional critic of Alabama's immigration law as a recipe for racial profiling and a throwback to Alabama's history of discrimination against minorities. In an interview on Capitol Hill Wednesday, he said he wanted the hearing to illustrate how the law is affecting families, farmers, businesses and the overall economy.
"We want to listen to the mothers who are trying to enroll their kids in school, homeowners who are trying to get their water turned on, legislators and the people about the impact this law is having on the broader community," Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez, a leading advocate for an immigration overhaul at the federal level that includes border security and a path to citizenship for certain undocumented immigrants, acknowledges that Alabama's get-tough law was a reaction to Congress' inability to fix the immigration system.
"Absolutely the Congress of the United States needs to do something, but you don't need to inflict this kind of pain," Gutierrez said. Since the law took effect, Hispanics have fled the state, leaving jobs and pulling their children out of school.
Most of the children of undocumented workers in Alabama "are citizens of the United States, but they're not going to school or getting health care. They're going to be American citizen adults," Gutierrez said.
Groups challenging the law say it has split families that are comprised of both citizens and illegal immigrants, and disrupted government services for all residents.
"I look at it as an anti-Alabama law. I'm a citizen of the United States. I was born here, and if I have to go to the secretary of state to get my plates renewed and spend hours in lines that I didn't used to, that's anti-Alabama. If my restaurant is empty, that's anti-Alabama. If I can't take my crops to market and no one is there to pick them, it's anti-Alabama," he said.
Other members who attended the Wednesday meeting were: Jan Schakowsky of Illinois; Al Green of Texas; Yvette Clarke of New York; Grace Napolitano of California; Silvestre Reyes of Texas; Judy Chu of California and Joe Baca of California.
Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, had a scheduling conflict and did not attend the meeting with Gutierrez, but a spokeswoman said she was supporting the trip.
At least one Republican congressman has taken a strong interest in defending Alabama's immigration law, which was passed by the GOP-controlled Alabama Legislature earlier this year.
U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., missed a planned visit to the state recently because of an airline mishap, but he supports the law as a sensible reaction to the failures at the federal level to crackdown on illegal immigrants. As mayor of Hazelton, Pa., he passed a similar city ordnance.
"The people in Alabama are doing this to protect their people. I wouldn't back down," Barletta said Wednesday night.
"I know the names they'll be called and the pressure from the groups and politicians, but the truth of the matter is there is a reason Alabama is doing what it's doing, because Washington has failed them," he said.
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