AMNESTY CRISIS: Fight Tom Ridge's new plan

Numbers USA ^ | 12-10-03 | Roy Beck

[Klickitat]

The country needs your faxes and phone calls immediately and steadily over the next few days.

Tom Ridge, the head of the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security, yesterday advocated legalizing (giving amnesty) to 8-12 million illegal aliens.

Click here to read the story titled: "Homeland security
chief endorses legalizing undocumented immigrants."
"Click for article"

This creates an immediate crisis that must be met with massive outcry -- like the outcry in August of 2001 that stopped Pres. Bush's July proposal for a massive amnesty for some 3.5 million illegal aliens from Mexico.

The most important thing is shoot this trial balloon down as fast as possible. Show the White House that this suggestion is outrageous and will be met with contempt from the majority of Americans.

More in a minute, but first the action.

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SEND FAXES NOW
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We just learned of this article in the last hour. Anne Manetas is at the computer writing text for faxes as I write this. Over the next two hours, you will start to see various faxes to Sec. Ridge, to the White House and to key congressional leaders who can put a stop to this nonsense.

Please send these faxes from:
"Send Fax"

If you go mid-afternoon today (Wednesday), they may not be up yet, but be sure to come back and send this evening.

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CALL SEC. RIDGE AND THE WHITE HOUSE......NOW....and for a week
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Your actions are the most powerful when they arrive immediately. I am sure that Sec. Ridge made his statement yesterday toin a fairly small audience in to a fairly inconsequential audience in Miami never dreaming that the whole nation would seem to be calling and faxing his office by 3:00 this afternoon. The faster the phones are ringing the better.

But if you are reading this after 6 p.m. EST Wednesday, please call Thursday. For that matter, some of you may want to call again on Friday and again next week. If you are reading this next week, your calls will still be great.

It will be important for Sec. Ridge and the White House to see that this is not a flash-in-the-pan protest but one that grows and continues over time.

Our Capitol Hill team will be working with key staffers over the next 24 hours to begin getting their bosses to send letters to Ridge asking him to recant. And those of you who are regular letter-to-the-editor writers will be called on to fire one to all newspapers that ran this story today.

What apparently is going on here is that the open-borders side is trying to regain some momentum after basically losing everything in Congress this year -- even though its PR machine repeatedly persuaded the NY Times and other commentators to declare that people of all sides were part of a growing, powerful movement that indicated some major amnesty would pass this year.

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THE PHONE NUMBERS
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*************************
Secretary Ridge, Secretary Tom
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC
20500
(202-282-8000)

*************************
President Bush, President George W.
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20500
(202-456-1414)

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WHAT RIDGE SAID
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Your calls to both the White House and to Ridge's office should refer to Ridge's outrageous endorsement of amnesty as being a terrible signal from the Administration.

Obviously, it is important to give Ridge the ability to back down gracefully. Because of the confused, garbled thinking in his statement last night, he has room to do so.

The first good sign is that Ridge did not make his comment in a prepared statement or before an influential audience. It was in a Q and A. Second, his actual description of what legalization would look like is full of contradictory ideas. To quote the news story:

"A man who identified himself as Miguel Arroyo of Aventura asked Ridge whether he supported immigration legalization and whether he thought it would benefit national security."

Ridge answered:

"The bottom line is, as a country we have to come to grips with the presence of 8 to 12 million illegals, afford them some kind of legal stus some way, but also as a country decide what our immigration policy is and then enforce it.

The story said that Ridge "said he thinks the body politic is about ready to address the issue of the illegal immigrants, who he said contribute to communities and Social Security and pay taxes. He referred to a growing number of bills that would grant residency to some of those living here illegally. He said one of these, which would require all illegal immigrants to leave the country before applying for residency, is 'not workable.' "

Ridge went on to say:

"I'm not saying make them citizens, because they violated the law to get here. So you don't reward that type of conduct by turning over a citizenship certificate. You determine how you can legalize their presence, then, as a country, you make a decision that from this day forward, from this day forward, this is the process of entry, and if you violate that process of entry we have the resources to cope with it."

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YOUR PHONE MESSAGE
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You won't get much time to talk. Have one or two things that you absolutely want to convey and say them. Be prepared to say more if given the chance.

I'm sure that from reading Ridge's statement, you already have thought of a number of things you want to say. I'm going to offer several points for you to choose from if you don't have your own. These are not in any particular order.

1. This talk of legalization of lawbreakers from the top security man in the nation is an insult and a threat to safety of every federal official charged with protecting our borders. It gives illegals the incentive to do ANYTHING to get across and claim this prize. And it may insight millions of new people to storm the borders.

2. Ridge has thrown in the towel on law enforcement and says nothing can be done about illegal aliens. In fact, Congress has passed a major law each of the last two years to deal with this problem. These laws have not yet been implemented. When they are, they will make it far more difficult for illegal aliens to live in this country and begin to force many to move back home. Why is Ridge pre-emptorily undermining the very laws he is charged with carrying out.

3. Ridge's solution seems to be that you give all illegal aliens now amnesty but change our enforcement so that any person who comes illegally in the future will be dealt with. If you can deal with future illegals, why not just start dealing with the ones already here? In fact, the 1986 amnesty of 3 million illegals was said to be a one-time-only amnesty under the exact idea that Ridge is suggesting. There was supposed to never be another million illegals living in this country. Instead, another 8-12 million have come in hopes of another amnesty.

4. Ridge's statement sounds like two different people were controlling his mouth. One person sounded like a top law enforcement official who said, "As a country (we have to) decide what our immigration policy is and then enforce it." But somebody from the cheap-labor lobbyists or radical, leftist open-borders groups got Ridge's mouth to say that all the illegal aliens here right now should become LEGAL. The fact is that 80% of the people in this country and the majority of the U.S. Congress knows what immigration policy is -- if you don't have a legal right to be here, you should leave -- and they want the head of the Department of Homeland Security to enforce that policy.

5. Unless Sec. Ridge backs away from these statements immediately, there is no reason for Americans not to lose full faith and confidence that he has their security at heart. He is supposed to be the man above all others who will enforce our laws to protect our borders and protect us from terrorists, criminals and masses of uninvited labor that steals from the wages and jobs of the American people. In this speech, he sounds like the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Insecurity. He is a chief law UNenforcement officer. He is saying that somebody ought to enforce immigration laws someday, but not now. He is saying that he believes he is incapable of enforcing those immigration laws entrusted to him and that the only solution is to reward all the lawbreakers with legal status.

6. Sec. Ridge seems to suggest that illegal aliens should be made legal but not have the right to citizenship. Is he proposing a new legal status that allows people to work and live permanently in the U.S. but with never a chance at citizenship? What is he suggesting?

7. Last week the Department of Homeland Security announced it was killing the NSEERS program that caused tens of thousands of illegal aliens from terrorist-sponsoring countries to leave our country voluntarily rather than appear at DHS offices to register. Now, Ridge says that he actually wants all illegal aliens to stay permanently and be welcomed as contributors to the Social Security system. Has the DHS decided that it no longer will enforce immigration laws.

8. 18 million Americans cannot find a full-time job, yet Sec. Ridge wants to keep 8-12 million illegal-alien workers and their families in this country working. What does he have against unemployed and underemployed American workers. Why does he seem to be waging a war against American workers instead of against foreigners who illegally enter our country and threaten our livelihoods?

[Klickitat]

I would encourage anyone opposed to this to take advantage of the FREE fax capabilities offered by numbers USA. For those who can afford it please consider calling the numbers and leaving a message opposing any more amnesties.

[Klickitat]

I forgot to say please ping your lists. If we can get enough people to call and fax in we can let them know we are still watching and we do care about what they are trying to do to our country.

[Capt. Tom]

I couldn't get through. High Volume of calls. Call Back later. - tom

[sgtbono2002]

If we give these folks Amnesty we may as well just open the borders entirely and let in any who come calling. No more rules about imigration .

[gubamyster]

ping

[Capt. Tom]

Got through to the White House left message with a secretary saying I was concerned about Ridges comments and there should be no amnesty for illegal aliens no matter what their ethnic background. - Tom

[Pubbie]

Calm down - The House GOP was ready to reject the original 3.5 million Illegal Immigrant amnesty in August 2001, before 911 killed the bill.

Now Tancredo says he has enough votes in the House to block the much smaller 500,000 person amnesty bill, and Texas Gov Rick Perry told Vicente Fox in public that there wasn't enough support in Congress for the 500,000 person amnesty.

Also Sen John Kyl said that that bill for 500,000 Amnesties would not be brought up next year.

So if there no chance the House GOP will legalize 500,000 Illegal Immigrants then is NO WAY they will legalize every illegal immigrant in the country.

Ridge wasn't even proposing a specific bill in Congress, he was just saying "in his opinion" he would like to see all illegal immigrants "legalized" ie Ridge was talking out of his ass (As usual).

[EagleMamaMT]

Will do.

[LADY J]

Looks like they are trying to lose the election! Nothing like recruiting new RATS to vote for the Dims.

If they think this will make those illegals grateful and hope they vote Republcan - they must be smoking something.

[Klickitat]

Thank you Captain. I had that problem too, I should mention that the on hold recording mentions the direct number for the comment line, it is 202-456-1111.

[ArGee]

I think Tom Ridge has the right idea.

This War on Illegal Aliens is unwinnable, saps the strength of our forces to pursue truly dangerous people, and distracts us from the global War on Terror.

Ridge would be doing us a favor to have us just open the borders and be done with it.

Shalom.

[Klickitat]

No I won't "calm down". That is the problem not enough people are making clear that we will not stand for any form of amnesty, whether it has been proposed yet or not. We as Americans need to make clear to our elected officials that ANY amnesty is totally unacceptable. This was just testing the waters to see the response. I for one am giving mine. If we all just keep sitting back staying calm this country will become another socialist state. We are on the brink right now. This ignoring our immigration law by government officials is just one aspect of the fight, but it's an important one.

[UCANSEE2]

Selfish, narrow-minded, lacking common-sense, influenced by fear tactics....

These are things I would say about those who support this post.

Now, One thing I have learned is that if you don't agree with someone's solution to a problem, then LET's HEAR YOUR SOLUTION.

Ignoring the problem, or saying something like "deport them all" just shows a lack of understanding of the world, and the spirit of the American People. At least, the spirit I was taught and saw. That spirit seems mighty weak lately.

[Sabertooth]

"A man who identified himself as Miguel Arroyo, of Aventura, asked Ridge whether he supported immigration legalization and whether he thought it would benefit national security."

Ridge answered:

"The bottom line is, as a country we have to come to grips with the presence of 8 to 12 million illegals, afford them some kind of legal status some way, but also as a country decide what our immigration policy is and then enforce it," Ridge said at a town hall meeting at Miami-Dade Community College.

The story said that Ridge " said he thinks the body politic is about ready to address the issue of the illegal immigrants, who he said contribute to communities and Social Security and pay taxes. He referred to a growing number of bills that would grant residency to some of those living here illegally. He said one of these, which would require all illegal immigrants to leave the country before applying for residency, is "not workable."

Ridge went on to say:

"I'm not saying make them citizens, because they violated the law to get here," he said. "So you don't reward that type of conduct by turning over a citizenship certificate. You determine how you can legalize their presence, then, as a country, you make a decision that from this day forward, from this day forward, this is the process of entry, and if you violate that process of entry we have the resources to cope with it."

Warned you...

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To: Brian S

Ridge is setting you up for Amnesty. The argument will be made that we need to legalize the Illegals and document them, as a security matter.

This is a Trojan Horse for Bush and Rove's Amnesty, nothing less.

50 posted on 09/03/2003 8:08:28 PM PDT by Sabertooth (Arnold would let Illegals stay... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/971733/posts)

[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse | LINK ]

Ridge says Mexican consular ID cards have security problems

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[Reaganwuzthebest]

The most important thing is shoot this trial balloon down as fast as possible.

How many of these balloons do we have to keep popping? There are things about this administration that can be supported, but they have to know by now hardly anyone agrees with giving illegal aliens amnesty, yet they keep suggesting it. Enough already.

[Pubbie]

No I won't "calm down".

Ridge wasn't even talking about a specific bill in Congress - he was just saying "Sometime in the future we should "legalize" all Illegal Immigrants in the US".

Since they can't get even an amnesty for 500,000 Illegals, then they aren't going to legalize all 12 Million Rodentus Mexicanus.

But go ahead and raise hell - But I'm telling you the 500,000 amnesty bill is dead.

[Sabertooth]

Selfish, narrow-minded, lacking common-sense, influenced by fear tactics....

These are things I would say about those who support this post.

Nice ad hominem warm-up.

Now, One thing I have learned is that if you don't agree with someone's solution to a problem, then LET's HEAR YOUR SOLUTION.

Sure: They Will Deport Themselves

Ignoring the problem, or saying something like "deport them all" just shows a lack of understanding of the world, and the spirit of the American People. At least, the spirit I was taught and saw. That spirit seems mighty weak lately.

To Amnesty the Illegals is to ignore the problem.
To fail to enforce the law is to ignore the problem.

Ignoring the problem is part of the problem.

The "spirit of the American People" has not traditionally been to allow foreigners to invade and scoff at our sovereignty, thereby eroding the rule of law.

[Klickitat]

You are of course entitled to your opinion. You might want to call the phone numbers listed above to say you support amnesty for illegals.
You will be encouraged to know that while the majority of Americans want our immigration laws enforced, the powerful are on your side. Both political parties, lawyers groups, the mainstream media, and many special interest groups are right there with you in support of encouraging disrespect for our laws.

[Sabertooth]

Ridge wasn't even talking about a specific bill in Congress - he was just saying "Sometime in the future we should "legalize" all Illegal Immigrants in the US".

Since they can't get even an amnesty for 500,000 Illegals, then they aren't going to legalize all 12 Million Rodentus Mexicanus.

But go ahead and raise hell - But I'm telling you the 500,000 amnesty bill is dead.

I wish you were correct. There are at least four seperate Amnesty bills working their way through Congress right now: S 1387, S 1461, S 1545, and S 1645. There are a number of GOP sponsors.

Click on the keyword REPUBLICANTURNCOATS for more info.