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(April 27, 2021, 5:50 p.m.) -- On April 27, Mayor Robert Garcia was one of four witnesses testifying in a virtual hearing of the House Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations, part of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Screen save: Mayor Garcia testifies to House Subcommittee April 27, 2021 Mayor Garcia said the Convention Center use must be temporary and said he favors changes in current immigration law (which he called "broken.") He advocated a "clear and fair pathway for citizenship" for undocumented persons including "dreamers," those in the military (who he said should go to the front of the line.) He said the changes would be posktkve and transformational. Mayor Garcia also advocated a guest worker program and aid for Mexico and Central American countries. He also urged expanding resources to asylum seekers, including legal counsel, interpretation and other services. . During his virtual (digital) testimony, Mayor Garcia sounded at one point as if he or his office had initially reached out to the White House, and not vice versa, in offering use of the city's Convention Center to temporarily house migrant minors...but it's garbled, not clear, possibly due to digital sound distortion. We include the audio clip and our unofficial transcript and invite our readers to listen and decide. When asked by subcommittee chair Nanette Barragan (D, Carson/Compton, NLB) about the process for establishing an emergency intake site at the Long Beach Convention Center, Mayor Garcia replied: "Sure thing. We our [unclear] reached out by the administration to see if it would be interested in hosting this emergency shelter. Long Beach with a history of a compassionate viewpoint with refugees, and with immigrants, brought it forward to the Long Beach City Council which voted unanimously to move forward..." To hear the audio clip, click here. The unclear word starting with "our" sounds like "our salary," which makes no sense. We speculate the word might be "ourselves," which would be consistent with Garcia's use of the word "it" in having asked if the administration ("it)" was interested in hosting a shelter at the Convention Center. Or it might be a garbled version of "sought out" or "reached out" which would be consistent with Garcia using the preposition "by" the administration...but would be inconsistent with his subsequent use of the term "it" (about his city.) ." [As W.C. Fields once quipped as a charcter trying to lure a crowd as a carnival barker:"It baffles science."] To be clear: The federal Dept of Health/Human Services hosts and operates the migrant minors' shelter in Long Beach and in other locations. It leased the Long Beach premises from city's Convention Center operator. [Scroll down for further.] |
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So who contacted whom first? Yes, it matters. LBREPORT.com is stubbornly "old school" about journalistic things, including the "who" and "when" (timeline) of a story. If Garcia contacted the administration first, it would contradict City Hall's official narrative that it was responding to a White House request. That narrative always seemed peculiar to us. HHS operates the migrant facilities, not the White House. Unless the issue has become so highly politicized (and that includes personal political ambitions, which Garcia denies saying it's about compassion, not politics) it would more sense if HHS made the request.
During reporters' Q & A at an April 22 Convention Center press event, LBREPORT.com sought to clear up the ambiguity. We asked Mayor Garcia exactly who contacted whom first (see transcript below) and he indicated the White House office (through its office of Government Relations) first contacted Garcia's office. LBREPORT.com: Bill Pearl, LBREPORT.com. I'd like to get some clarity on the White House aspect of this from the Mayor. Exactly who contacted whom initially on this? Who were the parties to that conversation, email or by phone, when did it take place and who handled the follow-up if any?.
Listen to the April 27 audio above. We welcome your suggested interpretation and reasoning. .
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