Posted on 01/10/2003 2:59:46 PM PST by CIBvet
NEWS ITEMS IN TEXT BELOW:
1. Open-borders Brownback out of Senate Immigration chairmanship
2. Two freshman House Members who campaigned for immigration reform have been added to Judiciary Committee
3. New House chairman over Department of Homeland Security has a Career "A" immigration grade
4. Advances in fighting Mexico's Matricula Consular cards for illegal aliens
CAVEAT: In this email as in all communications from NumbersUSA, please always know that our comments have only to do with the effect of actions, bills and people on immigration levels and on federally forced U.S. population growth. They do not imply any other enforsement of individuals, programs, bills or actions. One list-serve conversation recently held us responsible (in a critical way) for the entire Department of Homeland Security because we endorsed the immigration provisions in the bill that set up the agency. We will try to be more careful in our language. We stand neither for or against the overall agency. We deal only with immigration matters.
OVERVIEW: I hope you can catch the thrill of developments this week on the Hill. The tide begins to turn in big political matters only after a lot of internal, behind-the-scenes changes start to happen. As the new 108th Congress organizes, we are seeing many signs of improvement for our side and the groundwork for our ability to add to the impressive victories for sensible immigration that occurred in the last year of the 107th Congress (see my end-of-year message).
As we have throughout our nearly six years of operation, NumbersUSA will inform you of the actions on Capitol Hill that you otherwise might never see through your regular TV and newspaper viewing.
NumbersUSA's full-time professional Capitol Hill team has been working vigorously (along with professionals from other firms and organizations) to help staff and Members make as good decisions as possible when appointing the people who will take the lead in determining whether our out-of-control immigration system will continue or be reformed.
DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW AND SEND YOUR FAXES: We have put up several new specialty faxes based on your location and your interest. Be sure to check if you have any available to send from your customized faxing center at http://www.NumbersUSA
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1. Open-borders Brownback out of Senate Immigration chairmanship
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Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) apparently has given up chairmanship of the Senate Immigration Subcommitte to take a chairmanship in another committee, and is leaving the Judiciary Committee which houses the immigration panel.
Brownback has a "D-" career immigration grade. No Republican Senator has been worse in terms of forcing mass population growth and importing foreign labor that depresses American wages.
At the opening of the 107th Congress in 2001, Brownback moved into the Judiciary Committee and was given the immigration chairmanship, apparently to ensure a continuation of the open-borders work of Sen. Abraham (R-MI) who had just lost his election in part because of his single-minded insistence on far more than doubling the number H-1B visas given out to foreign workers each year.
When the Republicans lost the majority in the Senate early in 2001, Brownback served as the ranking Republican on the immigration panel, working almost hand-in-glove with the new chairman Sen. Kennedy (D-MA) who also has a career "D-" immigration grade.
Brownback was slated to take back the chairmanship this month (which would have meant no discernable change from Kennedy's leadership).
The fact that he is leaving Judiciary entirely is wonderful oppportunity for improvement in the Senate which has been far more inhospitable to immigration reductions and enforcement than the House.
We cannot say who will take the immigration chairmanship, but be assured that our team is working hard to help ensure a happy outcome.
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2. Two freshman House Members who campaigned for immigration reform have been added to Judiciary Committee
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Incredible as it may seem, two of the new Members of Congress who appear to have the strongest opinions for immigration reform are now officially on the House Judiciary Committee:
* Steve King (R-Iowa)
* Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)
These are people who have just been elected to Congress for the first time. They fought their way through contested primaries and the general election while publicly stating positions on immigration. Both are seasoned fighters, having waged important battles on immigration in the state political arena.
Finally, some of our champions on the Judiciary Committee are getting some reinforcements.
More important than the fact that these two members oppose federal policies that favor illegal immigration and mass immigration, they are people with a proven voice and action who are unlikely to sit quietly on the back bench until they have more seniority. If you can wrap your mind around what it has meant since Rep. Tom Tancredo arrived in Congress four years ago and began talking incessantly about this issue in public, you will begin to imagine the importance of King and Blackburn. Tancredo could never get on Judiciary, but now two people of similar passion are there.
Nearly all immigration legislation moved through this committee. Assignments to the subcommittees, including the one on immigration, have not yet been made. Nor do we yet know who the House immigration chair will be.
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3. New House chairman over Department of Homeland Security has a Career "A" immigration grade
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We have been on pins and needles over who would be appointed chairman of the new House Select Committee on Homeland Security. Although this committee won't deal with a lot of the nuts and bolts, it will have the overall oversight over the new Department of Homeland Security where all the immigration enforcement will occur.
Until today, there was a distinct possibility that the chair would be filled with a Republican with great open-borders leanings.
Instead, the chairmanship went to Rep. Christopher Cox (R-CA).
Cox's immigration career grades are impressive:
A.......Overall Career
A-......Reducing Illegal
A.......Reducing Chain Migration
A+......Reducing Anchor Babies
A.......Reducing Amnesties
B.......Reducing Worker Importation
A+......Reducing Visa Lottery
In the last two terms, however, he has shown less leadership and earned only a "B-" overall grade.
Nonetheless, it now up to all of us to help him keep his eye on the most important matters at hand and to understand what the vast majority of Americans want him to do.
ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN LOOK UP THE GRADES OF ANY MEMBER OF CONGRESS AT:
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4. Advances in fighting Mexico's Matricula Consular cards for illegal aliens
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As many of you know, the Mexican government has publicly announced that since it has been unable to get an amnesty for its citizens who are illegally in the U.S., it will try to get a de facto amnesty by persuading city councils across the country to okay the use of Mexico's Matricula Consular cards by illegal aliens.
The biggest barrier to illegal aliens having a good life in this country that will invite millions more is when they lack a good ID. The Matricula Consular card solves all their problems.
We recently talked to the head of one of the largest INS districts in the country. He emphasized to us that this Mexican card trick is undermining the entire enforcement system, such as it is.
Rep. Tancredo on Wednesday asked us to help him get signatures quickly on a letter to Sec. of State Powell asking him to declare the Mexican card a security threat. Our Linda Purdue led a group of 8 citizens who took the day off work on short notice and visited nearly 60 offices. At the same time, we asked all of you represented by those offices to send them faxes. We just got word that the letter is going off to Sec. Powell this afternoon.
Our staff also has been working with the FILE group to write state legislation that would forbid the acceptance of the Mexican card in their communities. We have talked with legislators in at least six states this week that appear ready to introduce this bill.
For those of you who may not know why this Mexican card is such a problem, I would just note that there is almost no backup to guarantee that the person carrying the card is the person named on the card. Police often arrest illegal aliens carrying three or four of the Matricula Consular cards, each with their same picture but with different names. For the most part, anybody who looks at one of these cards and does business with the person or doesn't report the person to INS is aiding and abetting an illegal alien, since illegal aliens are almost the only people who have a reason to carry such cards that are issued by Mexican consulates in this country.
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A PHILOSOPHICAL NOTE: Sometimes you just get lucky. But the slate of events going our way is too heavy to just be luck. For those of you who follow sports, you know the old adage about forcing mistakes by your opponent by aggressive play. That is what all of you have been doing, especially last year.
Many cynics refuse to fight, saying there is no hope. I get letters and emails every week from somebody saying they won't contribute money to us even though they totally agree with our position because no money can help the situation which is hopeless.
Many people are so fed up with politics they don't believe you can change things through evolution on the inside, so they don't try.
But all of you have consistently refused to give up, have repeatedly answered our calls for action, and I believe we are beginning to reap even more harvest from those efforts.
People become cynics often because they are unrealistic. I can guarantee you that we are not going to win everything we want in this Congress; the changes noted above are just stepping stones. We have a whole lot of fighting and maneuvering ahead of us. We will likely win incrementally while at the same time suffering losses. But last year saw significant improvements, and this year is shaping up to be even better.
Enjoy this moment.
-- ROY
I believe that was once commonplace, and referred to as Statesmanship.
Leadership of that calibre has been virtually non-existant for a long-long time in our Nation's Capitol.
After years spent raging into the wind and FR on this issue, I think I'm beginning to see a certain element of common sense emerge in relation to the absolutely arrogant, and undeniable invasion of my country and my culture by Illegals from all over the world ... but primarily Mexico. We have been suffering from this disease now since well before the '70's.
The D's and the R's have done everything they could to ignore and/or deny that the problem even existed. They only intended to manipulate the problem for their own purposes. It cost the tragic loss of well over 3000 innocent American lives, before our comfortable and corrupt Washington Politicos / bureaucRATS and their Globalist 'Ruling Elite' Pals/Overlords were finally forced, to some degree, to recognize this invasion of our nation could evenbe detrimental to them ... could in fact reach right into their chummy gated-communities and Limo-lifestyles
It would appear that they are beginning to recognize what a huge percentage of the American public have become awakened to -- the obvious conclusion that 8-12 million Undocumented and Illegal Aliens pose not only a direct threat to our jobs and our economy, but also to our national security, our precious (to us) national sovereignty, and even the very survival of our American Culture.
God Bless all you Patriots who have been deep in this fight for so long. Take a moment today to thank yourselves and one another, and take a quick breather.
Then it's grab your rucksack and back to the War.
From a new posting...see above...
Anyone accepting the MC card should demand to see a Selective Service card for draft-aged males. Not having a Social Security card doesn't exempt a non-citizen from registering. Also the Law states that you have to notify the SS within 10 days of changing your address or getting a social security card.
NumbersUSA is a great fax sending service on many issues. Thanks for the post.
and possibly aiding and abetting a suspected felon or a terrorist with fake ID, but could it get any more fake.
I think we need a Patriot's ID, about 5" x 7", with the Oath of Citizenship and the Pledge of Allegience on it, among other things.
"In this new stage we begin today, we are committed to making Mexico a bridge between regions and visions of the world," the president said Friday...
Nothing like defining success as being what you already are.
Registering for the Selective Service is another law illegals rarely choose to follow. This needs to get out as an issue because they'll take all the jobs, send the money to Mexico and let Americans defend this country because they don't really care to do that.
Every time an illegal demands a college education provided by American taxpayers like the Apodaca case in Colorado, we need to see if they've registered with the Selective Service. I'd bet money that wasn't something that crybaby had bothered with doing but believed at the same time he was entitled to free college.
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