Posted on 09/27/2003 4:45:44 PM PDT by ETERNAL WARMING
Title: Illegal Alien Freedom Ride Counter Protest Source: Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)
URL Source: http://www.fairus.org/html/activism.html Published: Sep 25, 2003 Author: staff
Beginning Sept. 28th thru Oct. 4th, many of us will be joining groups from across the country to counter the Illegal Immigrants Freedom Ride to DC. We will be using toll free phone numbers (that we pay for) to blitz the Senate, House and the Whitehouse on behalf of the hardworking citizens of the United States....the taxpayers.
Phone Nos.:
Senate and House: 1-800-648-3516
(When answered, just ask to be connected to a specific Senator or Rep)
Republican Nat'l Committee: 1-202-863-8500 (not toll free)
Whitehouse: 202-456-1414 (voice)
WH fax: 202-456-2461
Comment Line: 202-456-6213
Please join us. NUMBERS MATTER! It's our only hope to keep our politicians in line on this issue. We did it once early in the Bush Administration when he first pushed amnesty for illegals. It was a success! But we need you now to counter the Illegal's demand for "rights."
Please give us some time, if only to call your own Senators and Representatives to protest this invasion. And please consider calling as many of them as you can! In coming days I'll be posting links to the current incumbents, as well as a list of key sponsors of Pro-Illegal bills before the House and Senate.
Click on the above URL for a cram course on the Illegal Invasion.
The following are frequently asked questions to be used as talking points. Please print a copy to use in the event you actually get a "human being" to talk to! :0)
Frequently Asked Questions About Immigration Policy and Its Effects
How many immigrants come to the U.S.?
In 2001, more than one million immigrants were admitted to the United States. Additionally, about 500,000 entered illegally. This is nearly four times as many immigrants as we were receiving only 30 years ago.
Where are immigrants to the U.S. coming from?
About 20 percent come from Mexico. India, China, and the Philippines each send between five to seven percent. The following countries each send between two and three percent of our immigrants: Vietnam, El Salvador, Cuba, Haiti, Bosnia, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Ukraine, Korea, Russia, and Nicaragua. Together, these top 15 sending countries account for about 60 percent of all immigration to the U.S. The remaining 40 percent is composed of very small shares from a large number of other countries.
Who is able to immigrate?
Most immigration (almost two-thirds) is sponsored by family members in this country who most often immigrated themselves and are now legal permanent residents or have become U.S. citizens. Smaller shares of admissions (about one-sixth) go to workers (and their families) whom employers say they need to complement the native workforce, and to refugees and asylees (about one-tenth). In addition, about one out of every 25 admissions visas is given away by lottery.
Who is responsible for U.S. immigration policy?
As a sovereign state, the United States has the right and responsibility to regulate the permanent and temporary admissions of non-citizens. This authority is vested in the Congress, which makes the laws that determine the basis on which visas are authorized (although refugee admissions are proposed annually by the President for concurrance by the Congress). The regulations that promulgate those laws are developed and administered by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) a division of the Department of Justice (DOJ). Within the INS, there are the Border Patrol, which monitors the borders against illegal entry; the INS Inspectors, who monitor people entering the U.S. at ports of entry such as airports; INS Investigators, who track down violators of immigration law; and immigration judges (appointed by the Attorney General), who hear cases on violations of immigration law and regulation. Independent from the INS but still within in the DOJ, there is a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) administered by the Executive Office for Immigration Review; the BIA hears appeals of decisions by the immigration judges.
Is immigration different now than it used to be?
Immigration is much higher now than it has historically been. Through most of our country's history (more than 180 years), we took in fewer than 500,000 immigrants a year; for more than 135 of those years, it was fewer than 300,000 immigrants. In 2001, our country admitted 1,064,318 legal immigrants, as well as an estimated additional 500,000 illegal immigrants. Only seven years in our entire history have had as many immigrants as we received in 2001.
Why should we reduce immigration?
Because so many of today's immigrants are low-skilled, mass immigration brings competition for entry-level jobs, harming American low-skilled workers. Because most of today's immigrants are poor, they are a drain on our fiscal resources and our economy. Because immigrants are being admitted faster they assimilate, mass immigration is causing social strain and strife among different groups. And because immigration is the source of most population growth in the U.S., it strains the environment and our natural resources.
How many immigrants should we have?
FAIR believes we should strive for a system in which continuing immigration does not add to our population size. That would mean admitting between 200,000 and 300,000 immigrants a year. This would allow us to maximize the positive effects of immigration without overwhelming our environment, schools, social services, and other institutions. It would also contribute to U.S. population stability over the long-term.
Answers to Tough Questions
Arguments you will hear and the replies to have ready!
Immigration is a big part of American tradition and national character. We are a nation of immigrants.
The fact is, immigration levels today are far higher than traditional levels; in the mid 1950s, our immigration was less than one-third what it is today. Also, the U.S. today is a very different country than in years past. Were now a fully populated nation of almost 290 million people, not the sparsely settled territory of 150 years ago. Today were concerned about limiting sprawl, overcrowding, and environmental stress. Yet, if todays rate of immigration is continued, it will add nearly 150 million people to our population over the next 80 years. How will that help achieve a single U.S. objective? Will it decrease traffic and other forms of congestion, improve water tables, decrease school overcrowding, cut oil consumption, reduce housing costs? Not one single domestic objective of our nation is being facilitated by todays mass migration.
Immigration has been good for us in the past and has made our nation great.
Immigration in the past did bring benefits--in the past, the U.S. needed large numbers of people to settle the frontiers, cut forests, build railroads, mine gold, and much more. Todays priorities are preserving our remaining wilderness areas, conserving our natural resources, and ensuring a better quality of life for future generations.
Furthermore, immigration in the past has been quite limited. History shows us that immigration at high levels is not beneficial, which is why the country cut back immigration after the brief Ellis Island period. In the past, we have successfully absorbed and assimilated immigrants because we have periodically halted immigration.
Throughout our history, people have always attacked immigration and they have always been wrong.
While people have opposed immigration for a variety of motives over the years, Americans have always had legitimate concerns about immigration and its effects on our population, economy, and society. While we have coped successfully with some of these concerns in the past, that is largely because mass immigration to this country was stopped, not because the concerns were unfounded.
Immigration is less of a problem today because immigrants comprise a smaller share of our overall population than ever before.
Quite the opposite is true. When there were fewer people in this country, there was more room and opportunity for immigrants. Now, in a country already stuffed with well over a quarter of a billion people, adding another million through immigration every year is much more of a problem. The more people we have in our country, the fewer immigrants can be added without unwanted consequences.
Opposition to high immigration is rooted in racism.
There are always people who support the right idea for the wrong reasons--but that doesnt make the idea itself wrong. None of this changes the fact that bringing a million additional people from other countries into this one is disruptive to our economy, our society, and our environment. We condemn racism. But we also condemn the use of terms such as anti-immigrant, racist, or xenophobe as they are used to try to stifle open, honest discussion of how our immigration policy is impacting the country.
Immigrants are a driving force behind our economy, performing jobs that Americans wont do.
There are no jobs Americans wont do, only conditions and wages that are unacceptable. The employers who have become economically dependent on immigrants for cheap labor use this argument to justify virtual indentured servitude and then try to shame Americans into accepting it. Job competition by waves of new immigrants depresses the wages and salaries of American workers and hits hardest at minority workers and those without high school degrees.
Immigrants dont take jobs from Americans, they create more jobs.
Actually, both are true. But many of those jobs created are jobs in providing services to immigrants. Other jobs that immigrants create are generally low-skilled and mostly go to other other immigrants anyway. This doesnt really benefit Americans at all; it simply creates distortions in the economy, generally away from the high-skills, high-education, high-wage economy most Americans support. And it doesnt in any way address the increased burdens on our schools, environment, social services, and natural resources that bringing in so many additional people causes.
We live in a global economy and must have foreign workers to compete in the world market.
Very little immigration is of skilled personnel. Besides, it is precisely because of advances in global communications that we do not have to allow people to move to the U.S. to take advantage of their talents and benefit from their contributions.
Immigrants are a net benefit, because they pay taxes and contribute more to our society than they cost.
The seminal study of the costs of immigration by the National Academy of Sciences found that the taxes paid by immigrants do not cover the cost of services received by them. A calculation to the contrary works only if you discount the programs used by the immigrants children, refugees and asylees, immigrants who arent of working age, illegal immigrants working off the books, and immigrants from certain countries.
This argument also ignores the impact of sacrificing farmland and forests to roads and housing developments, increasing congestion to the point that people spend more time in traffic than at home with their families, and raising the burden on our already strained water supply and other natural resources.
A country as big as America has room for lots more people.
A country isnt a big box that you stuff as many people in as possible. Its a society supported by an environment, and the question isnt how many people can physically fit in it, but how many people the society wants and the environment can support. Many of the wide open spaces in the U.S. are inhospitable deserts or mountains, or are already used as farmland to raise food to support the population living on the coasts and to export to feed people in other countries.
Immigrants catch up quickly economically and soon blend into American society.
There is increasing evidence of groups of immigrants who are trapped in depressed inner cities, and their children similarly find themselves unable to escape poverty. Today more than 21 million people in our country say that they speak English less than very well. Besides, the hub of the problem is not the rate at which immigrants are assimilating, its the rate at which we are admitting them. As long as we have mass immigration, the bulk of unassimilated people in our culture will grow, causing social tension and conflict.
Illegal immigration is the only real problem, not legal immigration.
The distinction between legal and illegal immigrants is increasingly blurred by programs such as the amnesty in 1986 that gave legal status to nearly three million illegal residents and provisions that allow illegal immigrants to become legal residents if they marry someone legally here, i.e., Section 245(i). There is little difference between the societal effects from illegal immigrants and from those who were amnestied (and the same is true to a large extent for family members sponsored by former illegal aliens).
We have a humanitarian obligation to take in struggling people from other countries.
We cant solve the worlds problems by importing a tiny fraction of the millions who would like to come here. Instead, we should solve problems where people live and help them turn their countries into places that people arent driven to leave. But although the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that foreign aid and assistance is best utilized when the resources are spent on alleviating problems at their source, the U.S. channels a large share of its refugee resources on the transportation, language training, cultural adaptation, and assistance grants to refugees resettled in the United States that could benefit many more refugees if expended on temporary shelter and sustenance at refugee facilities near the refugees homeland and in the refugees eventual return to their homes.
It should be noted, however, that the United States admits as refugees many persons who are not true refugees under the United Nations standard, e.g. people from Cuba who do not qualify for asylum in this country.
Dunno about everyone else, but we gots Recall Fever here in Cali!
Shipping and handling are included in the price. To order a publication, either send us an e-mail request or print the following order page and send it to us at:
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colorful brochure on immigration and population growth PDF
Contact field representative to get copies
Bill: H.R. 2702 Sponsor: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.)
3rd distProposes: Limit the number of L-1 visas to 35,000 per year; eliminate blanket petitions; must be paid prevailing wage; cannot be hired during a strike or lockout; no displacement of U.S. workers 180 days before or after being hired and employee must have been employed for two years instead of the current six months.2.
Connecticut State Report Card:
Conn. Report Card
Representatives Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) 8th dist and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) 6th dist and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) introduced their companion guestworker amnesty bills, H.R. 2899 and S. 1461, the Border Security and Immigration Improvement Act.
Congressman Jim Kolbe - 8TH DISTRICT ARIZONA - Jim Kolbe's Border Initiatives
Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) has been working in Washington, D.C. to solve the immigration and border problems affecting our community.
Helping Border Hospitals
The FY02 Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations bill provides $1.56 million for three border hospitals that are facing considerable strain on their budgets due to the uncompensated, everyday care they provide to illegal immigrants. In addition, $750,000 was included for the four border counties to assist in this matter.
Mitigating Environmental Damage from Illegal Immigrants Three appropriations bills that fund the Department of Interior and the U.S. Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service included legislative language telling these federal agencies to coordinate their efforts to stop the increasing flow of illegal immigrations through our lands and to mitigate the environmental damage caused by the massive flow of illegal immigration.
Forward Deploying Helicopters to the Border The FYO2 Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary appropriations bill directs the Border Patrol to move helicopters closer to the border. In FY01, Congress directed the Border Patrol to complete negotiations to relocate Tucson sector helicopters closer to the border and therefore forward deploy resources.
Replacing Permanent Checkpoints with Roving Checkpoints The FYO2 Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary appropriations bill continues to prohibit the Border Patrol from spending money on permanent checkpoints in the Tucson sector. A permanent checkpoint strategy is not the most effective use of resources -- if it's permanent, then everyone knows where the checkpoint is and they just go around it. Similar language was included in the last three fiscal year appropriations Acts and has been strengthened this year to ensure that the Border Patrol does not try to circumvent the intent of the law.
Assisting State and Local Law Enforcement
$50 million is provided for assistance to state and local prosecutors located along the Southwest Border. This funding will provide Arizona financial assistance for costs associated with handling and processing illegal immigration and drug smuggling cases.
$565 million is provided for state and localities to pay for prison costs of undocumented aliens that cannot be held in federal detention centers due to over capacity. The federal government must assist local law enforcement absorb the costs of incarcerating illegal immigrants.
Border Truck Safety and Improvements
$56.3 million is provided for border infrastructure improvements.
$18 million is provided for Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas to hire border truck safety inspectors.
Federal Funding
Fiscal Year 2002 ($1.74 Billion)
$1.56 million for three border hospitals that are facing considerable strain on their budgets due to the uncompensated, everyday care they provide to illegal immigrants.
$750,000 for the four border counties to assist in uncompensated, everyday care hospitals provide to illegal immigrants.
$50 million for assistance to state and local prosecutors located along the Southwest Border, including the integration and automation of court management systems. $565 million is provided for state and localities to pay for prison costs of undocumented aliens that cannot be held in federal detention centers due to over capacity. The federal government must assist local law enforcement absorb the costs of incarcerating illegal immigrants. $56.3 million is provided for border infrastructure improvements.
$18 million is provided for Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas to hire border truck safety inspectors. $399.7 million for the Customs Service for increased border inspections and other counter-terror activities, which includes not less than $10 million for the Southwest border.
$33.151 million for Customs border inspection technology. $549.4 million for the Immigration and Naturalization Service for an increased border presence at the Northern and Southwestern borders and counter-terrorism initiatives.
Rep. Flake - Immigration and Claims Subcommittee
H.R.655 : To bar Federal agencies from accepting for any identification-related purpose a State-issued driver's license, or other comparable identification document, unless the State requires a license or comparable document issued to a nonimmigrant alien to expire upon the expiration of the alien's authorized period of stay in the United States, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Flake, Jeff [AZ-6] (introduced 2/7/2003)
Cosponsors: 25
Committees: House Government Reform; House Judiciary Latest Major Action: 5/5/2003 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims.
H.R.3218 : To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify that willful failure to depart from the United States by an alien against whom a final order of removal is outstanding is a continuing criminal offense, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Flake, Jeff [AZ-6] (introduced 10/1/2003)
Cosponsors: (none)
Committees: House Judiciary
Latest Major Action: 10/1/2003 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
H.AMDT.375 to H.R.2989 Amendment prohibits any funds in the bill from being used to enforce regulations that restrict United States citizens from traveling to Cuba. Sponsor: Rep Flake, Jeff [AZ-6] (introduced 9/9/2003)
Cosponsors: (none)
Latest Major Action: 9/9/2003 House amendment agreed to. Status: On agreeing to the Flake amendment (A022) Agreed to by recorded vote: 227 - 188 (Roll no. 483).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Thursday, July 24, 2003 - Contact: Maura Saavedra, (602) 252-2653
Flake sponsored this:
WHO:
Organized by U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz., with support from Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc., the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) and more than 50 community volunteers.
NOTE: CONGRESSMAN PASTOR IS NOT EXPECTED TO ATTEND BECAUSE CONGRESS MAY REMAIN IN SESSION OVER THE WEEKEND.
WHAT:
As part of National Citizenship Day, a national effort launched in June by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a naturalization workshop will be held by the office of Congressman Ed Pastor. Volunteers will assist 200 eligible permanent residents in completing their U.S. citizenship applications. Photography services also will be provided. When participants leave, they will have their applications for citizenship ready to submit to the BCIS.
WHEN/WHERE:
Saturday, July 26, 2003, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Laborers' Local Union No. 383 Auditorium, 512 W. Adams St., Phoenix. (Use east entrance on 5th Avenue).
WHY:
Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are holding naturalization workshops throughout the country in their respective districts to encourage eligible permanent residents to apply for their U.S. citizenship and embrace the benefits that come along with U.S. citizenship. Many permanent residents have not applied for U.S. citizenship because they are intimidated or overwhelmed by the application process, and this workshop will help ease the process by providing trained volunteers who will help participants complete the application and answer their questions.
So please contact:
Rep. Rosa DeLauro
Rep Jim Kolbe
Rep Flake
Tell them how YOU feel about illegal immigration and rights!
FAIR makes contact easy, pick a bill, pick a Rep and send!
Legislative Action Center
Peter Gadiel
Our Overburdened Immigration System Is Still Broken
The September 11, 2001 tragedy showed how directly our vital national security is impacted by our overburdened immigration system, but Congress has done very little to fix this badly broken process.
As Peter Gadiel, whose son was killed at the World Trade Center, says in the TV ad featured on this page, Our immigration system couldnt tell a terrorist from a tourist, and it still can not.
The sheer numbers of people flowing through our flawed immigration system-about a million legally, countless more illegally, and millions of foreign visitors-are overwhelming it. America's immigration laws often are totally disregarded, frequently are not enforced, and are based on concepts that in many cases are no longer consistent with our national security and other vital interests.
Millions are entering without adequate background screening.
Millions of people cross our open borders illegally. Lax enforcement allows them to remain here.
Illegal aliens can easily obtain false identity documents, drivers licenses and Social Security numbers so they can work and live here with little fear of apprehension.
We need your help in getting Congress to start serious reform of our immigration system. Comprehensive reforms may take several years, but some things can be done immediately. A good first step at cutting the overwhelming numbers would be to abolish the visa lottery program. The visa lottery promotes fraud and illegal immigration, is unnecessary, burdensome and increases national security threats.
Act Today: Ask Your Congressman to Get Immigration Under Control. Congressman Bob Goodlatte has introduced H.R. 775, the Security and Fairness Enhancement for America Act. This bipartisan bill, which already has 39 cosponsors, would terminate the senseless visa lottery and would be a positive step towards more comprehensive reform of our immigration system. Ask your Congressman to cosponsor H.R. 775 and to advocate its immediate passage to begin putting our nations broken immigration policy back on track.
Writing You Congressman
Its very simple to contact your Congressman.
All you have to do is go to:
the U.S. House of Representatives website
fill in your name, address and zip code.
It will automatically identify your Congressman and provide you with a simple email form which you can use to immediately send your request.
What to Say - Its always good to write your message in your own words. You can find additional message points for your email letter on the visa lottery by clicking here.
Or, you can also get the message across by simply highlighting the following form letter, copying it and then pasting it on the email form. Then click on the icon as instructed to send the message.
Dear Congressman:
Please co-sponsor H.R. 775, the Security and Fairness Enhancement for America Act, sponsored by your colleague, Rep. Goodlatte. This bipartisan bill would end the senseless visa lottery and would be a positive initial step towards more comprehensive reform of our overburdened immigration system.
Although the September 11, 2001 tragedy showed how directly our national security is impacted by our immigration system, Congress had done almost nothing to fix our outdated immigration process. Our system is literally being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people flowing through it. Our immigration laws are often disregarded, frequently not enforced, and are based on concepts that in many cases are no longer consistent with our national security and other vital interests. We need comprehensive immigration reforms, including reducing numbers to more reasonable levels. I recognize broader reforms may take time, but there is something you can do right now.
As a first step, the outdated and arbitrary visa lottery program should be abolished. Please support doing so by co-sponsoring H.R. 775, the Goodlatte bill which would end this lottery program. This discredited lottery program admits people we do not need, promotes fraud and illegal immigration and increases national security threats.
Please let me know if you are willing to co-sponsor this bill, and if not, why you do not support it.
Sincerely,
Name
Address
Write Your Congressman Now - Either write your own personal message, or copy the form message as explained above and paste it into the message text box you will find after clicking on the following link to the House of Representatives email messaging system:
Write NOW!
Call Your Congressman Its also very helpful if you would also call your Congressman and deliver your message by phone. If you do not already know your Representatives name, use the above link to identify him/her and then call them through the Capitol switchboards main number at: 202-225-3121.
Just this week, union workers for the big food stores went out on strike here in the St. Louis area. The word is that replacement workers are coming in from out of state. My guess is alot of them will be illegals. I plan on talking to some of the strikers about the possibility of illegals working their jobs while the union bosses at the AFL-CIO was backing this bogus freedom ride with some of their dues money. My experience being on a 99 day strike and knowinng illegals were in the factory (I don't want to use the word work cause not much went on during that time) might connect with some of them and maybe they'll complain to the union bosses about this. At least they'll be keeping an eye out for illegals.
Time to attack while the iron is hot.
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