A coalition of civil and immigrant rights groups are holding a hearing tonight in Bellingham intended to counter the hearings held in that city last week by two Congressional subcommittees concerned with border enforcement. Tonight’s hearing is the first of a series to be put on by the coalition, which includes Hate Free Zone, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. The hearing tonight might be lively, given that members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a citizens’ group devoted to manning the border, showed up at last week’s Congressional hearings. So too, according to Hate Free Zone, did a number of people wearing T-shirts that read “Stop the Invasion.” The coalition is on firm ground in attempting to spotlight the flaws of immigration law, whose irrationalities often exact a devastating human toll. The coalition is on shakier ground in criticizing the Congressional hearings, as did one of its member groups, the Bellingham-based Community to Community, for a “bias towards enforcement.” Um, isn’t border enforcement the government’s job?