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| 7/25/2007 11:43:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Panel discussion highlights several immigration perspectives
SEAN BOWLIN
City Reporter
City Hall's council chambers were devoid of city officials - but were still partially full for two hours Monday night - as a panel discussion on immigration issues by immigration and cross-border experts took place.
Moderated by Austin-based Lutheran minister William Sappenfield, the panel consisted of Curtis Collier, president and co-founder of U.S. Border Watch; Larry Youngblood, a Texas Border Volunteer; Terri English, director of Immigration Counseling and Outreach Services; Leslie Helmcamp, director of Immigrant Concerns for The Catholic Charities of Austin; and Dr. Edna Yang, general counsel for the Political Asylum Project of Austin.
The discussion was sponsored by the Round Rock Library's "Round Rock Reads!" program, which this year focuses on the book, "The Devil's Highway," a recounting of a tragic border crossing from Mexico into the United States.
Each panelist had two minutes to answer the six questions presented by Sappenfield. The first question asked panelists about how they felt that in 2010, most residents of Texas will be non-caucasian.
English said she thought there was fear out there.
"Most people are afraid of change," she said. "I think people would find it disconcerting to drive through the town they grew up in and find that they can't read the signs in their own language. But fear might not be the best response," she said, adding afterward that moving past fear and trying to understand in particular the people involved was the solution to the fear.
Youngblood said most of the people illegally entering the border were aged 16 to 30. Statistics, he said, show that age group commits most crimes, gets in car wrecks and uses illegal drugs.
"Racism has nothing to do with the issue - it's demographics," he said
The next question Sappenfield asked was how well does building a wall help with the border problem.
Collier said walls, while not a 100 percent solution to the issue of illegal immigration, do work. "A wall will slow 'em down," he added. "In many places, it'll be an effective deterrent."
Yang said a wall was "a band-aid solution," adding that it made no sense to spend millions and millions of taxpayer dollars for a wall that won't stop illegal immigration.
The third question asked panelists if they thought immigration laws needed to be reformed and if so, which ones.
Helmcamp and Yang both favored a comprehensive reformation of the immigration laws; English, who said many illegals have been shipped back home but none of their employers in the U.S. have been imprisoned for hiring them, was in favor of a worker's permit program.
Youngblood said no reforms needed to be made.
"The comprehensive Senate bill was terrible for this country," he added.
Collier advocated a two-pronged approach.
"Do we need some changes for our immigration policy? The answer is yes," Collier said. But he added that the nation needs to enforce the immigration laws already on the books.
Sappenfield's next question dealt with the panelist's thoughts on the T. Don Hutto detention facility in Taylor.
"It's a jail - where young people and families are placed," Yang said. "Most of the individuals there are children and most are fleeing from horrifying situations."
Helmcamp agreed with her assertion. And English added, "It is immoral of us to be imprisoning small children."
Youngblood and Collier thought differently.
"The parents should be put in jail for child endangerment - not in a hotel near Austin," Youngblood said.
Collier said, "It was their parents who put their children in a situation where they end up being there...they're responsible. Not you. Not I," he concluded.
Sappenfield's fifth question asked if all government services should be denied to undocumented workers.
Youngblood said the workers were not undocumented.
"They have Wal-mart I.D.'s and Bank of America I.D.'s These are not undocumented workers. These are fraudulently documented workers," he declared. "They have more documents than you or I."
Collier said immigrants needed to have their children educated and also needed access to health care. "But we cannot continue with emergency rooms being inundated by illegal aliens," he added.
English said all should be able to get driver's licenses so they can drive insured - and immigrant children have the right to educations.
"They buy groceries and paying rent and are supporting schools," she explained. "Immigrants are paying into that system."
Sappenfield's final question asked panelists what would happen if the country deported all illegal aliens overnight.
Youngblood said, "They' re not gonna leave tomorrow. And they're not gonna ship 'em out tomorrow."
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