Daily Thread: Illegal Alien Freedom Ride Counter Protest

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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. We’re now a fully populated nation of almost 290 million people, not the sparsely settled territory of 150 years ago. Today we’re concerned about limiting sprawl, overcrowding, and environmental stress. Yet, if today’s 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 today’s 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. Today’s 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.

There are always people who support the right idea for the wrong reasons--but that doesn’t 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 won’t do.”

There are no jobs Americans won’t 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.

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 doesn’t 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 doesn’t 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 aren’t 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 isn’t a big box that you stuff as many people in as possible. It’s a society supported by an environment, and the question isn’t 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, it’s 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.

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 can’t solve the world’s 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 aren’t 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.

I want to thank Joe and give him his props for never failing to repond to his fellow Freepers or his email on this issue! Thanx Joe!

Now, this is the exerpt from his "Issues" on Friday's show 10-3, it is a must read (short) and tis where I got my current tagline!!!

SCARBOROUGH: Coming up next, “I’ve Got Issues” with Wesley Clark’s big secret and the Department of Homeland Security’s silence on illegal I.D. cards.
Stick around. You’re not going to want to miss them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: Hi, I’m Joe Scarborough and “I’ve Got Issues.”
Now, our founding fathers had strong views about freedom. They had
equally strong beliefs in the rule of law. Well, earlier today, there was
” quote-a “Freedom Ride” from D.C. to New York City. And the participants were all illegal immigrants and their supporters.

Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN LEWIS (D), GEORGIA: Martin Luther King Jr. would be very, very proud to see you here, traveling through the country. This is what the movement was all about.
LUIS VELEZ, FREEDOM RIDER: We are talking about 10 million workers. They pay taxes here. They are working hard every day. They support their family here. They support their family in another country.
CATHARINE HELLWIG, FREEDOM RIDER: They should be able to be treated with respect and dignity. All humans deserve that. There’s no illegal human beings.
EMILY KANE, FREEDOM RIDER: I’m only second-generation American myself. And my grandparents were able to come to this country after having survived the Holocaust. And they were able to come here to this country and make lives for themselves, so that we, my generation, can be free and successful. And I believe that everyone has that same right to come to America, the land of opportunity.
JOHN SWEENEY, AFL-CIO: They deserve the same rights as every other worker.
JAIME RAPAPORT, FREEDOM RIDER: They take jobs that most people don’t want. And they’re people who make a good living who come here not to take advantage of the American system, but to contribute to it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an immigrant nation. All of us have come here from someplace.
RICK POWELL, FREEDOM RIDER: We want workers, regardless of their status, who are here working, paying taxes, contributing to our community, to be allowed to stay. We want a road map for citizenship without all of the encumbrances that exist now. We want a means for families to reunite here in this country. And we want the Civil Rights Act and we want all of the Labor Relations Act to apply to all workers, regardless of their status.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCARBOROUGH: Most Americans don’t have any issues with immigration.
America’s been built by immigrants from all corners of the world.
But they do have issues with politicians appropriating an issue like the civil rights movement of the 1960s to a group of people who are on those buses for one reason, because they’re illegal immigrants who broke the law. Now, Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Lieberman, Charlie Rangel, the ACLU, Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon and the Communist Party USA are all throwing their support behind these illegal immigrants and this ride.
But the whole process seems to me to be a slap in the face to the true civil rights heroes, to legal immigrants who got here fairly by playing by the rules and to the millions of people who are actually trying to reach our shores legally. My question is, why weren’t these buses pulled over and those who are legal immigrants escorted straight to jail? I mean, come on.
Again, I never get anybody answering this question when they come on. Sure, they tell me that illegal immigrants are hard workers. Well, that’s great. You know what? There are hard workers in China that want to come to the land of opportunity in America. There are hard workers in Eastern Europe that want to come over here. There are hard workers in Africa that want to immigrate here. And you know what? They do it by immigrating legally.
Illegal immigrants, they’re breaking the laws. They need to be sent back home. And, no, they’re not heroes. They’re breaking the law.
And next up, did you ever wonder if all those people on the bus and the Freedom Riders were illegal immigrants? Because, if they were, they could have been because the Bush administration’s doing nothing to stop illegal immigrants from getting driver’s licenses.
The Bush administration’s doing nothing to stop illegal immigrants, not only from getting drivers licenses. But, also, earlier this week, President Bush signed the first ever appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which will get nearly $30 billion next year. The president called it a major step forward in our ongoing effort to secure the United States.
But I’ve got issue with the administration’s silence on giving I.D. cards to illegal immigrants. The White House hasn’t taken a position on the matricula cards, even those these cards allow illegal aliens to get driver’s licenses, while the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security believe the cards pose a threat to our nation.
And the sad fact is this: The loophole was exploited in the attacks of September 11, when 18 of 19 of the terrorists on those airplanes had state driver’s licenses. It’s time to stop playing politics, Mr. President, and simply make illegal immigrants follow the law.
Now, students of history know that great nations of the world show their strength through naval superiority. Well, Osama bin Laden knows it, because al Qaeda’s reportedly bought at least 15 ships in the last two years, creating, in effect, the first terror naval force, this according to reports in the G2 Bulletin online.
The ships may be sailing under the Yemen and Somalian flags. And U.S. officials suspect they’re targeting civilian ports for suicide missions. Between the administration’s position on illegal I.D. cards and U.S. port security, I think we all have a reason to pick up the phone and tell our elected politicians, it’s time to get serious on homeland security.

STEIN REPORT XXXXX Tuesday, October 07 2003 10:53:22 ET XXXXX

IMMIGRATION ISSUES KEY TO OUTCOME OF CALIFORNIA RECALL

A commentary in USA Today by Don Campbell discusses the role of immigration in the California recall election. He notes that if Gov. Davis is booted from office, it probably will be because as many as half of the state's traditionally Democratic Hispanics turned against him. In trying to please one side and then the other on immigration issues, Davis alienated both. After Californians voted by a wide margin for Proposition 187, which would have cut off school and health services to illegal immigrants, Davis nullified the vote and allowed the new law to be put in legal limbo. After first opposing a plan to make illegal immigrants eligible for in-state tuition at colleges and universities, he reversed himself. And after vetoing a proposal that would let illegal immigrants apply for driver's licenses, Gray did a 180-degree turn as the recall election drew near.

STEIN REPORT XXXXX Tuesday, October 07 2003 10:47:15 ET XXXXX

A SLEEPING GIANT: MEXICANS IN THE BIG APPLE

The Los Angeles Times profiles New York City’s Mexican population and notes it rivals in size those of San Jose, San Diego and Santa Ana -- 187,000 residents counted in 2000, and estimated to be possibly double that. A sociologist comments that the city’s response "is still largely unfocused, and given the huge economic problems now looming with Mexicans in New York, that could be a tragedy." An economics professor says, "This could become a major social and economic concern, because there are large numbers of Mexican children being born in the city now. If we don't find a way to keep them in the school system, and to pay people higher wages, they will not acclimate as successfully here in New York as many other immigrant groups." The paper notes that nearly one-third of Mexicans in the city live at or below the poverty line, nearly double the citywide rate.

STEIN REPORT XXXXX Tuesday, October 07 2003 10:43:42 ET XXXXX

60 ILLEGAL WORKERS BUILDING FEDERAL COURTHOUSE DETAINED

Last Friday, the DHS conducted a raid in Miami on the construction site of a new federal courthouse and detained 60 illegal aliens. A consultant at the site commented to the Miami Herald, ''I find that very ironic … that we could be building a federal building and have illegal people working on a project of this magnitude.'' A construction supervisor commented, ''I'm happy to see [DHS] get all their ducks in a row, get in there, and take care of business. Today they did their jobs right.'' He and many other union workers, argue that illegal immigrants take jobs away from U.S. citizens.
(FAIR Comment: If federal contractors verified the documents of their employees in the Basic Pilot verification program set up by Congress in 1996, these situations would be prevented.)

STEIN REPORT XXXXX Tuesday, October 07 2003 10:40:49 ET XXXXX

INSECURITY IN DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Government Executive Magazine reports on the troubled transition of the new DHS. Many of the old problems remain: limited resources, poor technology and mixed messages from Congress about the agency’s mission. Turnover among agents is close to 20 percent a year, perhaps because the law that set up DHS allows the managers to make personnel changes without the unions’ consent. A senior Border Patrol officer comments that, “Our job is just to slow [illegal aliens] down so that the economy can absorb them.” Litigation is swamped with 3,000 to 4,000 cases a year. A union official comments that, “There is no preparation time. No time to prepare witnesses, or bring witnesses. It’s not unusual to go to court unprepared.” On the benefits side, there are 7 million applications for immigration benefits a year and there are not enough resources to screen them properly. One employee commented, “Sept. 10 is the same as Sept. 12 here.”

STEIN REPORT XXXXX Tuesday, October 07 2003 10:38:01 ET XXXXX

CONTROVERSY OVER STATE STANDARDS FOR IDENTITY DOCUMENTS

The recognition by nine states (Cal., Idaho, Ind., N.M., Ore., N.C., S.D., Utah and Wisc.) of the Mexican consulate issued identity cards as either primary or secondary documents for driver’s license issuance has provoked a new look at standards for establishing identity, reports the Washington Times. The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) has issued a resolution calling it "premature" to accept the Mexican ID cards as a verifiable document on which to issue a driver's license because they “lack standardized issuance procedures, uniform security features and a secure database for verification purposes." Some states (Pa., R.I., Utah, Ky. and N.C.) also accept Treasury Dept.-issued ID numbers (ITINs) for issuing licenses despite Treasury’s warning that, "If your state is considering legislation to accept ITINs as proof of identity for driver's incenses, please alert your legislators to potential security risks."

STEIN REPORT XXXXX Tuesday, October 07 2003 10:35:44 ET XXXXX

CHILD MOLESTER IDENTIFIED BY FINGERPRINTS

When the Border Patrol scanned the fingerprints of 16 aliens apprehended near Fabens Texas on Sept. 30 one turned out to be a convicted child molester who had previously been deported. The fingerprints allowed the alien to be identified even though he had used a false name.
See El Paso Times account.

STEIN REPORT XXXXX Tuesday, October 07 2003 10:32:10 ET XXXXX

ALIEN SMUGGLER SHOT AFTER TRYING TO RUN OVER BORDER AGENT

The driver of a car loading illegal aliens near the border was shot on Saturday night after he tried to run over the intervening Border Patrol agent. The agent was not hurt. The San Diego-Union Tribune reports that the driver, who managed to get back into Mexico, was detained by Mexican police while being treated at a Tijuana hospital for a thigh wound.

Today I am beginning posts of specific contacts. You decide if the Reps are Sellouts or Patriots! I was surprise when compling this list that the sellout outnumbered the good by 2-1. So if concentrate on the contacts daily, it is more manageable.See if your critter has made the list?

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.

Ariz Report Card

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

Bump to you and Ping to our activists!

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 couldn’t 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.

To view Quicktime Ad

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, driver’s 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 nation’s broken immigration policy back on track.

Writing You Congressman
It’s 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.

What to Say - It’s 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

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 - It’s 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,
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