August 7, 2014      11:19 AM
Immigration talk simmers, but does not boil over, at Central Texas congressional town hall
"We've got to not be angry Republicans”
BASTROP – Now that Congress is on recess following an
ugly meltdown over immigration and border security last week, lawmakers in
Texas and around the country are diving into the time-honored tradition of trying
to explain what just happened and listening to voters’ frustrations during town
halls in places big and small. In this town at the northern edge of the
enormous Texas 27th Congressional District – yes, the congressman representing
Bastrop is the one from Corpus Christi 183 miles away – Rep. Blake Farenthold spoke with
constituents for about 90 minutes Wednesday night.
Despite incendiary comments from the crowd at Bastrop
City Hall including a reference to a “noose” for President Obama as well as a woman asking why we don’t have better
border fences, Rep. Farenthold managed to keep a calm tone and even mentioned his
support for a guest worker program without getting much pushback.
The event was considerably more civil than what State
Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, experienced
recently
at an East Texas town hall or the town hall hosted by Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, about a year
ago in which he tried to sell an
angry crowd on a guest worker program. Carter and Simpson were both
subjected to blistering criticism from self-identified Tea Partiers for either
supporting immigration reform or, in the case of Simpson, asking for a
compassionate response to the humanitarian crisis Texas now faces. Simpson has not
backed down.
In his opening remarks, Farenthold said drug smugglers
and human traffickers have grossly misrepresented President Obama’s executive
action two years ago on young immigrants. The Deferred Action for Child
Arrivals, or DACA, has been “twisted by the coyotes” to promote the
idea in Central and South America that if parents send their kids to the United
States they’ll be allowed to stay, Farenthold said.
By Scott Braddock
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