ACT NOW! Congress Trying To Sneak Through Immigration Amnesty

Received this a few minutes ago. PLEASE call and pass along:

Today is the day. If you only do one thing this year to stop illegal immigration, call your Senators TODAY. Your phone call could be the one that stops the amnesty.

Phone your Senators today and tell them to oppose any immigration provisions in the Iraq Supplemental spending bill.

202-224-3121

Senate Expected To Vote on Amnesty on WednesdayIn a somewhat unexpected move, the Senate began debate on the Iraq Supplemental Spending bill late in the day on Tuesday. As I write this, the Senate is still in general debate on the Iraq Supplemental (which is actually more like a mini omnibus bill). Senator Byrd (D-WV) filed three substitution amendments Monday night to H.R. 2642 (to replace all the House language in three parts). This is a similar tactic the House used during debate on their version of the Iraq supplemental bill last week: divide the bill in three to give cover to the different party constituencies. The AgJOBS language is in the first amendment (SA 4786). The Senate is not likely to get through general debate tonight, but could make it to the first amendment sometime tomorrow.

In short, this means the AgJOBS amnesty could come up for debate as early as Wednesday morning.

At this point, it is best not to get bogged down in the legislative details (because things are changing rapidly and many procedural moves are occurring). Instead, we are recommending you keep your message simple and to the point. Simply state something like the following:

”My name is _______. I’m calling from _________ to ask the Senator to oppose any immigration increases in the Iraq Supplemental including so-called emergency agricultural workers, H-2B unskilled workers, and employment-based permanent workers. I oppose amnesty and illegal immigration and expect the Senator to vote against all immigration increases.”

If you want to get specific, see the talking points below. But the most important need now is to flood Senate offices with phones calls opposing the AgJOBS amnesty and all other immigration increases in the Iraq Supplemental Spending bill.

Please go to your Action Board immediately and send the faxes and make the phone calls we've posted on your Action Buffet .

BACKGROUND AND DETAILS

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 17-12 to attach an amnesty to the Iraq supplemental spending bill. The amendment that passed provides a 5-year visa for up to 1.35 million illegal agricultural workers—but the cap of 1.35 million does not include spouses and children, who would bring the total amnesty to a total of about 3 million.

Rosemary Jenks (Vice President, Government Relations) has outlined the most egregious aspects of the amnesty here. You won’t want to talk about the AgJOBS amnesty without reading this first. Find it online here http://www.numbersusa.com/PDFs/AgJOBS_Amnesty_2008.pdf.

In short, the AgJOBS amendment would require the Department of Homeland Security to grant “emergency agricultural worker status” (i.e., amnesty) for up to five years to as many as 1.35 million illegal aliens, plus their spouses and children.

Last Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee added several immigration amendments to the version of the Iraq Supplemental they were marking up.
The immigration amendments include the Feinstein AgJOBS-lite amendment, which passed by a recorded vote of 17-12; and the Mikulski H-2B amendment which would, for the next three years, exempt from the annual cap of 66,000 any H-2B workers who were admitted during the previous three years. (The impact on the numbers could be exponential--they could rise from 66,000 in FY 2008 to over 400,000 by FY2011.) This passed by a recorded vote of 23-6!

That is why we are asking you right now and every day this week to go to your Action Buffet corkboard and take every AgJOBS-related action possible.

KEEP IT UP

You and the more than 625,000 members of the NumbersUSA Action Network are doing an incredible job of bringing attention to this amnesty threat. The media have started to cover the issue and all Senate offices are now aware of the stealth move to attach the AgJOBS amnesty and other immigration increases in the Appropriations Committee. Without you, the amnesty may already have sailed through under the radar. Keep it up. Please call your Senators today – your country is depending on you.

Thank you!