Facts vs. Speculation from Specter's Philadelphia Hearings
07/05/2006
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I just watched the first immigration panel chaired by Senators Arlen Specter and Edward Kennedy. On the panel were New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson and Hazelton, PA. Mayor Lou Barletta.

Bloomberg and Johnson were 100% sympathetic to the "undocumented" community. Bloomberg claimed that New York could not function without the "undocumented" And Johnson speculated that if police were to report aliens to the immigration agencies, the "trust" built up between police and immigrant informants would evaporate.

Barletta said flat out that illegal immigrants were "not working" and "draining" his scarce funds for servicing the legal residents of Hazelton.

Here's the big difference between Bloomberg/Johnson and Barletta: Bloomberg and Johnson dealt in theory...Bloomberg "thinks"that New York would collapse. But of course it wouldn't. And Johnson is of the opinion that "the relationship" between police and immigrants would be destroyed. But that is his view; it is not shared by me or many others.

Barletta dealt with hard facts—monetary and emotional—about how illegal immigration is destroying Hazelton.

And Bloomberg and Johnson simply rehashed the same tedious arguments as to why we can't clean up the illegal immigration mess.

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