The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hosted a hearing Wednesday morning titled “Securing the Border: Progress at the Federal Level” with DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano as the witness. While much of the focus was on visa overstays and the definition of "operational control" of the border, Sen. John McCain stole the show with his line of questioning about spotters.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense, and Foreign Operations along with the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forest, and Public Lands hosted a joint hearing Friday titled “The Border: Are Environmental Laws and Regulation Impeding Security and Harming the Environment?”
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement hosted a hearing Wednesday morning titled “The H-2A Visa Program: Meeting the Growing Needs of American Agriculture?” While it is very clear that the H-2A program needs to be reformed and made more user friendly, it's apparent that some Members of Congress are eager to jump on the AgJOBS Amnesty bandwagon to “legalize” the “undocumented” workers and expect them to stay in agriculture instead of migrating over to other industries like construction.
Last week marked the end of the first quarter of the 112th Congress. With more than 100 new Members of the House and Senate, the 112th Congress opened for business with the largest Freshman class in 60 years. While this Congress was destined for some tough fights considering a sizable Republican majority in the House, a Democrat-controlled Senate, and a President not prone to compromise, the best word to describe the first quarter of this Congress is: slow.
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement hosted a hearing Tuesday afternoon to debate H.R.704, the SAFE for America Act, which would end the Visa Lottery Program. While debate of the issue was engaging, speeches on the House floor and a suspicious package led to only three Members of Congress taking part in the hearing.
The House Immigration Subcommittee hosted a hearing on the impact of the H-1B visa program and whether it meets the needs of the U.S economy and its workers. Unfortunately, the issues of fraud and program management remained the primary topics of concern instead of whether or not foreign workers are still necessary during the peak of our recession.
The House Immigration Subcommittee convened on Thursday to discuss the impact of illegal aliens in the workforce on vulnerable Americans.The hearing didn't get much attention, but it discussed a serious topic, including the comments made by Greg Serbon - a union worker who discussed the disconnect between the pro-illegal-alien union leaders and the pro-enforcement union members. While dissenters threw out unrealistic, hypothetical solutions, Serbon directed his focus an attrition through enforcement solution.
After facing a more hostile House Committee last week, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano testified before the more friendly confines of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Even though the Democratic-controlled Committee allowed Napolitano to be less defensive, she still faced tough questions about border security and the amnesty memos that circulated last summer.
Last month, the Government Accountability Office issued a report saying that the Department of Homeland Security had less than 50 percent 'operational control' of the Southwest Border. The House Homeland Security Committee brought in DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to discuss the findings of the report, but instead, the Members and Napolitano quibbled over the definition of 'operational control'.
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement hosted a hearing Tuesday morning called “Making Immigration Work for American Minorities.” While the hearing was likely designed to correspond with February’s Black History Month festivities, March 1 is better late than never because it was quite entertaining by Congressional hearing standards.