Tancredo doubts he can block amnesty-extension bill

Denver Post ^ | March 8, 2002 | Bill McAllister

[sarcasm]

Friday, March 08, 2002 - WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom Tancredo takes credit for thwarting the Bush administration's last effort to offer partial amnesty to thousands of illegal residents, but Thursday the outspoken immigration foe said he may have been outmaneuvered by the White House.

President Bush has struck a deal with the House leadership to place legislation that offers an extension of amnesty on its consent calendar before Bush heads to Mexico for a state visit next week, the Colorado Republican said.

That action should ensure quick House passage of legislation that Bush has repeatedly sought from Congress. It would allow an undocumented person to receive legal standing, such as a valid green card, by filing a declaration with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

It presumably also would require the person to have been in the United States by a certain date and have filed a declaration with the INS from an appropriate sponsor, such as a relative or employer, and pay a $1,000 penalty.

"The terms are still up in the air," said Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration, a group that has been allied with Tancredo. "We've heard to the effect that the president wants something to bring down to Mexico."

The initial Bush proposal, designed exclusively for Mexicans, once was high on the president's legislative wish list, but it was delayed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. However, as the president noted Wednesday in a speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, he now is pushing for the extension of the amnesty program known by the section of immigration law that covers it, Section 245I.

The president hailed it as a way to reunite family, separated by the border. "If you believe in family values, if you understand the worth of family and the importance of family, let's get 245I out of the United States Congress and give me a chance to sign it," Bush told the chamber members.

Tancredo, the head of a congressional caucus on immigration issues and proponent of halting virtually all immigration, said he had blocked a previous attempt by Bush to push an extension of the amnesty program through the House. But this time, he said House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., had agreed to place the issue on the suspension, or consent, calendar, making it difficult to defeat the proposal.

The Senate might be more favorable to the bill than the House, expanding the numbers of individuals who can apply, Tancredo said.

[Jhoffa_]

Oh, whoops..

Please disregard all my previous postings..

I just looked and I am a white male.

[doc]

Bush can kiss my vote goodbye. Without an adhered to immigration policy this country will keep sliding towards socialism and third world status. Can someone please tell me how they are going to determine the time frame an illegal immigrant has been in this country?

[Carry_Okie]

President Bush:

If you really want a Republican governor in California, you had better damn well find a way to get stymied in this effort and blame the Democrats long before November 1.

[Jhoffa_]

Silly isn't it?

My god, I wish I was born the "right" color..

Then Dubya and company might value my vote..

You know, I just bought a sailboat.. And I think I will be on it come the election.

[Oregon Coast Conservative]

Thats just it, I'm beginning to wonder if Bush does want Simon to win in California, or any-non Rhino anywhere else. It seems to me that Karl Rove has decided that conservatives are a bad thing for the party. I'm starting to think Karl may be terrible for America. We all know Rove is such a political genius, after all he did manage to almost snap defeat from the jaws of victory in 2000. And now, with 80% approval, he decides to pander to illegals, even though Americans of all political parties want less immigration after 911. If amnesty passes, conservatives won't vote in November, giving control of the senate, and possibly the house, to the dems. I'm really beginning to wonder what the hell Rove is thinking.

[WDG55513]

they want to condemn our neighbors to the south in poverty

Why are they in poverty? Is that our fault, we condemned them to poverty? I thought all those people were just coming to pick apples and mow lawns - is that gonna pull them out of poverty?

Hearing this kind of thing, coming from Bush, makes me despise him. He sounds like every liberal I've ever heard, and I can not help but begin to think of him as an enemy.

[MissAmericanPie]

I do appreciate the way the member's of Free Republic have handled this, in the begining me, and other's, were pretty alone going head to head with Bush apologists who held the majority opinion. We seemed to have reached an easy truce, they don't flame anymore and I don't hop on "A Day in the Life" and ask why he isn't wearing his Sombrero.

I voted for Bush, I wanted to love and admire the man, to stand back to back with him against all comers, when my loyalty is earned and given, only death can deal a blow to it, however, it was never earned. I stood on street corners, in more than one city, with my "Sore Loserman" sign, yelling till I was hoarse. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...as the old saying goes. The man "Christian", put his hand on the Bible and took his oath of office to uphold the Consitution. I know I was not the only person in America to witness that event. He lied, he is a bare faced liar, a wolf in sheeps clothing, and I don't care if he suddenly walks on water across the Rio Grande or the Potomac River, I will never vote for him again, and will campaign for anyone against him.

[WDG55513]

I've gotta say it again: the topper to this whole thing is that the children of these criminal parasites will get preference over my children in education and employment.

But I'm the nazi for wanting to deport them, right?

[healey22]

Here is the latest email alert from numbersusa.com
DATE: 5:30 p.m. 8mar02

More red alert stuff. Thanks for reading carefully and doing at least one thing.

BELOW:
1. INFO--House vote on Section 245i amnesty set for Tuesday
2. ACTION--Call talk show hosts and create a storm next few
days 3. INFO--The sneaky combination the White House is trying
4. ACTION--Keep calling, especially to District offices
5. FEEDBACK--Learn from the experience of others (your phone calls are stirring up a cloud of dust)
6. INFO--Where the White House is going

1. INFO--House vote on amnesty set for Tuesday
The House GOP leadership has caved to the White House and set a vote for the Section 245(i) amnesty next Tuesday (probably mid-day).

This is all being done so Pres. Bush can hand this to Mexican Pres. Fox as a gift when he visits there in a couple of weeks (instead of exchanging cowboy boots).

But in an apparent sign of some spine and reflecting their personal distaste for amnesties, the GOP House leadership rejected the White House desire to pass 245i without a vote by attaching it in Conference Committee to an authorization bill.

Instead, there is to be a real vote. Our allies in the House are pledged to force a roll-call vote when the amnesty comes up on the "suspension calendar" Tuesday.

That is great news because we can hold every Member accountable. We get very few chances to do that.

If you missed our Action Alert earlier this week that went into great detail about Section 245i, please see this Hot Topics page:

http://www.numbersusa.com/hottopic/index.html

Section 245i is about allowing hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens to pay $1,000 and get permanent residency.

2. ACTION--Create a national talk show storm
Everything about the White House maneuver on Section 245i is the kind of outrage that moves talk show hosts to spontaneously combust. If enough are combusting at the same time, they have been known to create enough heat to worry even presidential staffs with stratospheric popularity.

Please take a look at this hastily assembled talk show list at:

http://www.numbersusa.com/text

I have no idea whether you or I agree with anything any of these people advocate. I leave it to all of you to plant the information and fan the flames. If you know the work of any of these people, please use that knowledge to improve your chances of breaking through.

There are phone numbers for many. For many others, you will need to e-mail information.

If you know of other talk show hosts, please call them -- and send us the name and phone numbers.

3. INFO--The sneaky way the amnesty is coming up
Pay close attention to this move.

Section 245i will not be brought up by itself on Tuesday. Rather, it has been wrapped up in the visa-tracking legislation that was passed by the House in December.

You may ask, if visa-tracking already passed, how can it be brought up again? It can be brought up in as many forms as the House chooses.

The calculation by the amnesty people is that amnesty opponents will have a hard time voting against the visa-tracking legislation that is so important to getting a handle on illegal immigration.

HERE IS WHAT YOU HAVE TO REMIND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND TALK SHOW HOSTS: If the House defeats this combination bill Tuesday, the visa-tracking bill that passed cleanly in December remains alive and awaiting Senate action.

That's why you should constantly argue that no matter what is attached to the amnesty, Members should vote against it -- even if they like the attachment. If the package can be defeated, then the good stuff can easily be brought up again in a clean bill.

4. ACTION--Keep calling, especially to District offices
Your calls the last two days have really started stirring things up inside Congress. In many cases, you were telling staffers things they hadn't learned yet, but which they were able to quickly confirm.

On Monday and Tuesday, continue burn up the Capitol office phone lines of you House Member and Senators.

This weekend, try calling the Members' offices in your area. Because most Members are home this weekend, they may have staffers in the offices who will be impressed by your concern.

Get the Capitol and home District phone numbers from our directory at:

http://www.numbersusa.com/congressinfo/

5. FEEDBACK--Learn from the experience of others
"I made fifteen calls this morning to all those you listed."
-- Fred

"I thought you might find this interesting. When I called the White House this morning to express disapproval of a 245(i) extension, I asked the comment line guy if he knew what it was. Not only did he tell me he knew all about it, but he also suggested that I contact all my representaives and take up a petition! Apparently, one of "our guys" is taking messages at the White House."
-MM

Hello!
Like a good dooby, I made my calls and was dutifully recorded or "listened to" by staff. The one exception: I had my points listed prior to calling and when I was taking a breath, the staffer said: "That's not what 245-i does!" I said then, "what do you believe 245-i does?" He replied "I'm not here to debate the issues with you" and I said, "but you have just questioned my understanding of what 245-i does and I want to know what your understanding is." I was then told, he would "pass along my comments."
-- Patti

[NumbersUSA comment: AS SOON AS WE GOT THAT E-MAIL, OUR LOBBYIST IMMEDIATELY CALLED THAT OFFICE AND MADE SURE THEY UNDERSTOOD THE TRUE WORKINGS OF 245I.)

"I just spoke with a California office and staffers tell me that 245i went through a year ago. Let me know what I can do."
-- Dave

[NumbersUSA comment: WE IMMEDIATELY CALLED THAT OFFICE AND STRAIGHTENED THEM OUT THAT A NEW AMNESTY WAS COMING UP. IT IS TRUE THAT A FOUR-MONTH AMNESTY PASSED THE HOUSE A YEAR AGO AND THEN WAS NEVER TAKEN UP BY THE SENATE WHERE THE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP WANTED A ONE-YEAR OR PERMANENT 245I. IT IS VERY COMMON WHEN PEOPLE CALL CONGRESS AS A RESULT OF A NUMBERS USA ACTION ALERT THAT THEY ARE TELLING STAFFERS THINGS THEY DO NOT YET KNOW. SO BE POLITE AND PERSISTENT. IF YOU FIND THEY JUST DON'T BELIEVE YOU, TELL THEM THAT YOU WILL BE HAPPY TO GO BACK AND CHECK YOUR INFORMATION AND GET RIGHT BACK TO THEM. THAT'S A GOOD TIME TO TELL US WHAT YOU HEARD AND LET US GIVE YOU A PHONE NUMBER AND NAME FOR THEM TO CONTACT INSIDE CONGRESS TO CONFIRM YOUR INFORMATION.]

"I am calling multiple times every day to the White House and have enlisted all of my friends to do the same."
-- JOe

"Calling the two White House comment lines yesterday, I learned that both numbers do go to the same volunteers at one phone bank. I got the same person when I dialed the second number right away after the first. This did not happen during ten to fifteen days of consecutive calling in January. Despite getting the same volunteer, she was eager to take my message a second time after I explained Section 245(i) during the first call, but this cannot always be assumed although in my experience it is a consistent reaction. Almost without exception, the volunteers I talk with are sympathic and often outraged when they learn the facts about our immigration policies...if only the American people knew the facts we know."
-- Fred

[The White House numbers are: 202-456-1111 and 202-456-1414]

One thing you might want to pass along although callers will quickly learn it: Call early, before 8:00 AM Pacific time, or your wait will be long.
-- Fred

6. INFO--Where the White House is going
Our lobbyists have been in and out of congressional and Administration offices all week picking up information and trying to hold off some of the damage. The situation described above and in this section are the best they know it right now:

Democratic congressional leaders seem to be letting the Republicans fight this one out.

Many of the Republican congressional leaders are unhappy with the "equivalent of war" pressure they are getting from the White House to give an amnesty they don't like. While they have asked that there be no more amnesty pushes, the White House has made it clear that there may be one amnesty after another backed up on their agenda.

Bush and Fox are apparently hoping to announce in two weeks that they have agreed to some kind of giant agriculture guest worker program that will allow illegal aliens to join up and then be allowed to move toward U.S. citizenship after three years or so.

As you may already know, Bush told the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce this week that some kind of amnesty was a top priority for him this year.

This action network is all over the map politically. Many of you have no trouble understanding that this President would stand on the side of massive population growth and cheap labor for the benefit of corporate interests. But others of you are like Rep. Tom Tancredo who said on the floor of the House yesterday that he thanks God every day that George Bush is the Commander in Chief. Nonetheless, he said, Mr. Bush's desire for friendship with Pres. Fox is "increasing our own vulnerability to terrorism while simultaneously rewarding people for violating our laws."

The President has extremely high approval ratings right now, but we must not allow his staff to believe that means he can force extremely unpopular measures like amnesty down our throats.

Thanks for every little and big thing you are able to do the next few days.

This is the latest email alert from numbersusa.com

[Regulator]

Thanks for the response. People in Provo should know that Cannon is the point man for amnesties for illegals and high immigration in general. Personally, I don't think those are things that Utahns in general and Provoans in particular agree with.

[agitator]

For those that didn't catch it the first time around, I did a show on this a little while ago. You can listen to the show by clicking the links below:

Streaming Links

Windows Media version - RealPlayer version

---

Jan - 2 Mr. Jim Edwards on behalf of NumbersUSA, Mr. Ira Mehlman on behalf of F.A.I.R. , and Mr. Glenn Spencer of American Patrol.

NumbersUSA.com is a non-profit, non-partisan, public policy organization that favors an environmentally sustainable and economically just America. It opposes efforts to use federal immigration policies to force mass U.S. population growth and to depress wages of vulnerable workers. NumbersUSA.com is pro-environment, pro-worker, pro-liberty and pro-immigrant. Activists in the NumbersUSA.com network are Americans of all races and include many immigrants and the spouses, children and parents of immigrants.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform is a national, non-profit, public interest organization of concerned citizens who share a common belief that the unforeseen mass immigration that has occurred over the last 30 years should not continue.

American Patrol

---

[WRhine]

Let’s let congress know what we think. I just wrote my congressman - House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert.

Barnacle, that is exactly the guy you want to reach; though you might want to call his office first thing Monday because Bush is greasing the skids for a vote on this piece of tyranny early next week.

[WRhine]

I'm not looking for Jesus Christ as the next American president, but I don't think it's too much to ask of a candidate that he actually preserve the Union he seeks to lead.

Well Put Egg. In the last 4 presidencies this seems to be asking for too much.

[flamefront]

You are rightly observing the very same thing that conservatives that voted for Simon hope is the problem Simon will also wake up to. It was already well known that Simon's opponent Riordon, Bush's favorite, was eager to declare LA a Mexican city which was just one of the basic facts that doomed Riordon as if he were a Democrast mole in the Republican party.

Thanks for your honest observations here.

[Jhoffa_]

Ahhhh, stop yer complaining WRhine..

Just get in line and say "moo" like all the the rest..

Repeat after me: "Dubya is GOD! His crap stinketh not!"

[WRhine]

My sentiments exactly. For Californians this has been a hot button issue for a long time. And I simply will no longer vote for politicians who aid and abet this Politically Correct treason.

If you take a good look at the numbersUSA website that tracks politicians' votes on immigration matters you probably won't be voting for very many candidates. I looked at mine here in IL and it was a hall of shame but their votes were very similar to their peers in other states. They have quite the racket going on there in Congress. It's a fraternity of groupthink.