Last night I hitched a ride with a school bus full of immigrant rights’ advocates headed to Bellingham. Between the free carrot sticks and friendly conversation, the drive felt like the trip to summer camp. But the advocates were headed to northward for more serious reasons: to stage a public hearing on immigration reform in response to a Republican-centric immigration hearing held in Bellingham on August 8th.

Dave Reichert hosted that House hearing — in which eight experts (six chosen by Republicans, two by Democrats) testified about northern border security to a handful of Congress members and a public audience — on the 8th. While the audience was filled with anti-immigrant citizens mobilized by the Minutemen and Stop the Invasion, the hearing itself was dry and informational, with an emphasis on statistics, not politicking.

But that focus on statistics is part of the problem with the House hearings held being held around the nation, says Pramila Jayapal, founder of Washington immigrant advocacy group Hate Free Zone. Jayapal is adamant that it’s necessary to hold counter-hearings in order to reframe the Immigration Debate to focus more on the human lives that would be affected by the legislation and less on equating Homeland Security with keeping out illegal immigrants.

“A country can have secure borders and it doesn’t mean building a wall around the country — it means having good economic and foreign policies,” says Jayapal, “It’s a convenient ploy to combine the issues of immigration and border security. It’s a beautiful frame.”

The rectangular, gray Bellingham conference room filled with 125 people last night, mobilized to attend the hearing (titled: “Defending Democracyâ€�) by a coalition of immigrant right’s groups. Even doomed Cantwell challenger Hong Tran showed up, kicked off her shoes and stood tiptoe on a chair to string a “Liberty and Justice for Allâ€� sign from the ceiling.

The hearing itself was long. Very long. After about twenty speakers preaching to the choir about the importance of immigrant rights (someone from the Chinese community, someone from the Sikh community, someone from the Latino community, someone from Canada, a farmer, etc. etc.) I felt too brain dead to be angry about the draconian House bill.

But there were some great, important moments: A woman from Colombia named Maria Vargas had a near-tears testimony detailing her struggle to claim asylum for herself and three children after her husband was assassinated. Two of her children still remain separated from her, unable to gain asylum.

Many Uch, a Seattlite who fled Cambodia as a toddler, told his frustrating story of being arrested as a teenager and finding out years later his arrest put him on a list to be deported.

The best moment, though, came when Representative Rick Larsen (D-Whatcom/Skagit County) responded to the testimonies. Larsen voted for the House bill, which makes illegal immigration a felony, makes knowingly providing healthcare to illegal immigrants a felony and mandates immigrants be held in detention centers while applying for asylum status (which can take years). Larsen’s short speech went something like this:

Larsen:“I don’t support felonizing illegal immigrants —â€�
Heckler from the crowd: You voted for it!
Larsen: I don’t support felonizing doctors and priests who help illegal immigrants.â€�
Heckler: You voted for it!
Larsen: “We should err on the side of asylum… I’m not an expert, I’m a member of Congress.â€�

Larsen (above) does not support what he voted for.

More coverage from the counter-hearing below the jump.

Beginning July 5th, the U.S. House has held public hearings in several key locations around the country addressing the House and Senate immigration bills -- inviting hand-picked experts to inform Congress members while anyone who wants can come to watch.

Washington immigrant advocates say the officially stated purpose of the hearings (to inform Congressmembers) is just a cover for their political purpose. "They're using them to make sure the anti-immigrant voice has a legitimate place in the political discussion," says Jayapal.

And because of House policy for public hearings, they're naturally stacked in favor of the Republican viewpoint.

Initiated by James Sensenbrenner (arch R-WI), chair of the Judiciary Committee, Congressional policy creates hearings that are stacked in favor of Republicans. Since Republicans are the majority in the House, Republicans get to choose the majority of the witnesses at the hearings and also what they'll focus on.

One example immigration advocated are quick to point out is that the House hearings refer to the slightly more liberal Senate immigration bill as the Reid-Kennedy bill. The bill was actually sponsored by McCain and Kennedy: bipartisan sponsors instead of two Democrat sponsors. Additionally, some of the hearings have drawn criticism for being held on military bases.

But is the Republican upper-hand at the hearings such a big deal? After all, the hearings haven't been publicized very much at all and the audiences are mostly Minutemen and groups like Stop the Invasion. Republican organized hearings featuring mostly Republican viewpoints presenting information to mostly Republican audiences — where's the harm in that?

Well, come the next round of haggling over immigration in the House, Republicans could possibly use the hearings to bolster their position. "They can go ahead and say, 'We held hearings and this is the opinion we heard.' It can become a self-justifying circle," Sam Terry, a Hate Free Zone volunteer, opined at last night's counter-hearing.

Advocates also believe the reason the audiences are mostly anti-immigrant is because the Republicans are intentionally not releasing the exact location of the hearings until right before they occur. "We struggled to hear about this -- we were scrambling for information," says Hari Kondabolu, who works the National Rights Working Group. He and other advocates didn't receive the official word on where the August 8th hearings would be held in until August 7th.

The Bellingham Herald ran a straightforward article about the House hearing last week. Check out their comments thread for some "Send back the illegals!� action.