Sherman: Hearings to Highlight FailedRepublican Record on Border Security

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Brad Sherman said Friday that hearings next week on border security are political theater intended to paper over Bush administration failures and Republican Party dissension that has stymied immigration reform in Congress.

œThe only good thing you can say about the Bush administration immigration policy is that it may not be as big a failure as its Iraq policy, Sherman said.

Sherman is the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation, which has scheduled hearings next Wednesday in San Diego and Friday in Laredo, Texas.

œThis Republican road show cant cover up six years of failure by the Bush administration to control our borders and the inability of Republicans in Congress to pass legislation to stem illegal immigration and regularize the immigration process, Sherman said. œThe hearings are an all-out effort by House Republican leadership to divert attention from their awful record.

Sherman commended Congressman Edward R. Royce, the subcommittee chairman. He said he respects Royce and has a good working relationship with the chairman, who has been bipartisan in his approach to the important foreign policy matters that come before the panel. œIt is a shame that these field hearings have been swallowed up by the House Republican leaderships national political agenda.