The continuing events in Boston loomed large over the Senate Judiciary hearing on immigration reform and the Gang of 8’s newly released legislation today, after DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano was called away from her scheduled testimony.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), one of the Gang of 8, gave a strong opening statement discouraging spectators from linking the events in Boston to the current debate on immigration reform. As he said:
I’d like to ask that all of us not jump to conclusions regarding events in Boston or conflate those events with this legislation. In general, we’re a safer country when law enforcement knows who is here, has their fingerprints, photos, etcetera, conducted background checks.
In addition, both the refugee program and the asylum program have been significantly strengthened in the past five years such that we are much more careful about screening people and determining who should and should not be coming into the country.
Two days ago, as you may recall, there was widespread erroneous reports of arrests being made. This just emphasizes how important it is to allow the actual facts to come out before jumping to any conclusions.
Other officials have made similar points today. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) told reporters after the hearing that the country should not formulate its policy based on individual events.
“If we change the policies of this country every time something happens, Oklahoma City, 9/11, this, we’re never going to do anything,” he said. “We should think what are the best policies for the United States and use those.”
Agreed Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL):
Linking something like that to other legislation I think is probably not appropriate at this time. In the first place, we don’t have the facts. What I will tell you is, what is indisputable, we have an immigration system that is broken. […] What is clear is the system we have not only is not working for our economy, it is also threatening the national security of our country. If somebody is here today in the United States and commits a crime, it is under the current immigration system. It is under the current immigration system. Obviously not everything can be solved. But again, every crime that is committed right now is under the current immigration system. So what does that lead me to believe? We need to fix the current immigration system.
Alex Conant, a spokesman for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), another key author of the immigration bill, also urged caution: “The situation in Boston is still developing and it’s too soon to jump to conclusions, let alone use the tragedy to make political points.”
Tony Fratto, a former spokesman in the George W. Bush administration, said “There is no lesson or consequence from events in #Boston relevant to the immigration reform debate. Stop that idiocy.”
Meanwhile, others have been quick to point out on social media that one of the heroes of the Boston bombings, Carlos Arredondo, is himself an immigrant who lost a son in Iraq:
