A little piece of Washington landed in Concord Thursday.
The U.S. Congressional Judiciary Committee has been traveling the country holding hearings on national immigration policy.
Today they came to Representatives Hall in Concord.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein reports.
Protesters gather outside St. Pauls church. (Cheryl Senter, NHPR)
Before the hearing began Thursday morning, protestors on both sides of the issue marched outside.
The issue that divides so many people on immigration is whether the some 11 million current illegal immigrants should be allowed to become citizens.
21 year-old Patricia came to the United States from Brazil when she was six.
She lives in Boston.
Patricia says she knew she wasn't a legal citizen, but didn't realize what that meant until she had applied and been accepted to college.
T.21
:04 it's just really hard for me to think about. My whole life they told me to work hard, and to get good grades, have a better future. I would be able to provide for my family. And we get here and do everything that is asked of us, and just b/c of some status, I can't go to college. I can't take out a loan, can't get financial aid...it's just really hard to go back. Nobody knew how to help me, nobody knew what to do, I just wanted to get an education.
T.25
5:50 I have heard that story many times....
A Concord police officer keeps watch as opponents to amnesty for illegal immigrants gather on the opposite side of the State House. (Cheryl Senter, NHPR)
Bob Cassamarrow is a Minuteman, and also from Massachusetts.
...My comment is they should be grateful they were able to get a high school education. And they should go back to their country and build on that. You can go to college on the internet from another country, if they want to continue with their education.
The polarization outside the statehouse was just as evident inside.
In Representatives Hall, the dividing line was which Congressional bill you backed.
Those who opposed citizenship for illegal immigrants backed the U.S. House plan to add hundreds of miles of fencing along the nation's southern border and make all undocumented immigrants felons.
Those on the other side preferred the Senate measure that would also tighten border security, but create a new guest worker program, and provide a way for illegal immigrants to become citizens.
The legislation has stalled over the differences in those two plans, and it's unclear where it now stands, or where this hearing fits into it.
The five people invited to testify said little that hadn't been said before.
Steven Camarota is the Director of the Research Center for Immigration Studies.
T.33
1:48 the people who would be legalized...are overwhelmingly people who create large fiscal costs. In terms of the impact on tax payers the fundamental problem with the senate bill is that it ignores this basic fact. If we legalized, illegal immigrants...the net fiscal grain would roughly triple from 10 billion a year to 30 billion a year.
Inside the State House during the hearing. (Cheryl Senter, NHPR)
John Young is with the New England Apple Council.
T.26
2:17 our agricultural economy, and much of our service economy is fueled by undocumented workers. We need a comprehensive immigration policy that will allow them to come forward, undergo background checks and get jobs legally.
The lack of new perspectives and the fact that only three of the five people invited to testify were from New Hampshire, left many wondering why the hearing was even held in the Granite State.
When told that the state wasn't a hotbed of illegal immigrants, Judiciary Committee Chair Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner said he came at the invitation of Congressman Charlie Bass.
Bass thanked the Committee for leaving Washington to discuss the important question of immigration reform.
He said he supports better security on the border, giving local and state law enforcement more latitude in dealing with illegal immigrants, and penalizing companies that employ undocumented workers.
But as far as allowing those same undocumented people citizenship, he said he had no stomach for it.
2:59 the concept of providing legal status to someone who is here and broke the law, can not be tolerated.
Bass may have asked for the event to come to New Hampshire, but apologized and left the event early and did not stay around to answer questions.
Hearing members support a graph that is unsteady on its perch. (Cheryl Senter, NHPR)
Throughout the event, Democrats on the committee mocked the hearing as a road show.
Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz says she believes Republicans held the hearing in Concord as a way to support Representative Bass.
T.8
4:33 they are trying to politicize this issue and do whatever they can to fire up the base of the Republicans here and turn them out to vote in greater numbers. I think that is what their goal was.
Committee Chair Sensenbrenner denied the hearing had any political motivation.
T.10
13:41 this is holding a hearing in various parts of the country. The Concord hearing is the only hearing in New England. I would hope the Democrats would have welcomed us to New England so those of us could have learned about Yankee ingenuity and common sense.
In their respective press conferences, Republicans and Democrats on the Committee blamed each other and/or the Senate for failing to come up with a compromise.
After hearing the politicians make their case to the press, one observer said the whole morning was nothing more typical Washington gobbledygook.
He added, the Committee didn't seem any close to solving the problem of immigration.
For NHPR News, I'm DG.
