Arizona Interfaith Network

Church members booted after disrupting hearing on immigration bill

by Patti Epler - Tuesday, 23 June 2009 18:31 - The Arizona Guardian

Dozens of church members and civic activists were ejected from a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Tuesday when chairman Sen. Russell Pearce refused to allow testimony on an immigration bill.

When the Rev. Sue Youngblood tried to speak anyway, Pearce gaveled her down and called a recess. Members of the Valley Interfaith Project who'd been seated in the audience stood and recited a passage from the Bible while the Senate sergeant at arms rushed in and escorted them out.

The four Democrats on the committee never came back from the recess in protest.

"This is a farce," Sen. Rebecca Rios said. "There was no point in going back to the committee."

Pearce has made forcing cities and police departments to end what he calls "sanctuary city" policies one of his signature issues this session. He has held two hearings on similar bills and oversaw an hours-long special meeting that featured testimony from police, prosecutors and victims, all of them on his side of the matter.

On Tuesday, the Appropriations Committee took up SB 2280, which was originally a tax bill. But Pearce used a striker to turn it into an anti-illegal immigration measure, primarily making it a criminal trespassing offense to knowingly enter or remain unlawfully in the country. The bill also prohibits local governments from adopting policies that limit enforcement of illegal immigration and requires police to check immigration status if they are suspicious of someone.

Pearce announced at the beginning of the hearing that he would not allow any testimony on the bill, saying the committee had already heard enough about the issue. Two other similar measures, SB 1162 and SB 1175, had already been aired and passed, he said.

"This is a critical bill, one of the priority bills of the session," Pearce said. "It takes the handcuffs off police officers and lets them do their job."

Many people had signed in on both sides of the issue, and, after listening to a brief summary from staff, Pearce read off the names of people and organizations who supported him on the issue. But, unlike most bills, he did not read off people who had signed in against the measure.

He called the supporters "good citizens."

That caused Youngblood, an Episcopalian minister, to take the podium. "We too are good citizens," she began, but was immediately cut off by Pearce.

"I'm not going to provide you" with the opportunity to speak, he said. "And I'm not going to allow you here."

He kicked them out and threatened to keep them out in the future.

Dozens of people seated around the room rose to their feet and chanted a passage from Leviticus, which begins: "When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him."

"Can I get an Amen," Youngblood called out.

"Do I hear an Amen to the scripture from you, Senator Pearce?" Young blood asked.

Pearce did not "Amen," instead shooting back with: "I will not ignore your disrespect to the citizens" who protect the public or have been injured by undocumented immigrants.

He rose from his chair and gavelled the session into a brief recess.

That's about the time the sergeant at arms and a page showed up and asked Young blood and her followers to leave. They did, walking quietly out of the building entirely.

Still, Sen. Sylvia Allen shouted at their backs: "You need to learn to obey the law, ma'am." She admonished them that they couldn't come into the committee room and act however they pleased.

Outside on the sidewalk, Youngblood and others said they had come to testify on this particular bill, which has had no testimony because it was a strike-everything amendment, and thought it was wrong of Pearce to vote on it without any input.

They are concerned that the measure and others like it will lead to racial profiling.

"It's based on bigotry and vendettas … against the Hispanic community," said Father Glenn Jenks.

Youngblood said she was stunned that Pearce would read only the names of supporters and not people who opposed it. "He referred to them as 'all these good people,' the implication being that we're not," she said.

Meanwhile, back in the hearing room, Pearce decided he would allow an opponent to speak -- for two minutes.

Mark Egan, an attorney from Mesa, wasn't part of the Valley Interfaith group and had simply showed up to testify as an individual. He made a number of points to the committee -- by this time only Republicans remained -- including that he believed the provisions actually hindered police from going after more serious crime. He also noted that it would add to the cost of operating the jails because many more people would be detained.

And, down the hallway, Senate Democrats on the committee gathered in the press room to complain about the lack of testimony on the bill.

Sen. Paula Aboud pointed out that Pearce often preaches about his own pet issues but shuts down any opposition.

The Democrats had asked to hear from at least a couple of the church members but the request was turned down by Pearce.

Aboud said the rules don't seem to apply to the majority party. "They can do anything they want," she said.

The Democrats planned to submit a complaint to Senate President Bob Burns. But they didn't hold out much hope that anything would change.

"We can put our complaint in and see what happens," Sen. Amanda Aguirre said.

Back in the committee room, SB 2280 passed 7-0 -- with four not voting.

After the hearing, Pearce was still angry. He called the Valley Interfaith members "anarchists" who have a history of violating the law and ignoring legislative decorum.

"They were rude and nasty and they're not going to get away with it," he said. "I'm not going to allow them to take over the committee."