Thread: FAIR Legislative Alert

From: Federation for American Immigration Reform <info@fairus.org> Add to Address Book
Date: 2006/04/27 Thu PM 03:35:54 EDT
Subject: Legislative Alert: Hagel-Martinez Round 2 - Same Old Guest Worker Amnesty

The Hagel-Martinez Guest Worker Amnesty Plan: Round 2!
The Senate returned from recess this week with plans to take up immigration reform again during the month of May. Both Senator Frist and Senator Reid have publicly announced they plan to have an immigration reform package voted out of the chamber by Memorial Day recess and FAIR has learned that the Hagel-Martinez “compromise” is still the vehicle of choice. During the floor debate three weeks ago, Senators tried to market the Hagel-Martinez “compromise” as some moderate version of the massive McCain-Kennedy guest worker amnesty. The American public was not fooled then, and they will not be fooled now.

What the public doesn’t see is the back door negotiating taking place on Capitol Hill right now. Some Senators are trying to pressure House Members to back down from their enforcement-only (HR 4437) legislation so Senators have wiggle room to pass a massive guest worker amnesty program like the one in the Hagel-Martinez legislation. Thus, while the battleground appears to be in the Senate, do not forget the only way an amnesty will pass is with the consent of the House. You must make sure to tell both your Senators and Representatives you oppose all forms of amnesty and want enforcement-only immigration reform.

With all of these factors in play, May has now become Round 2 in the battle to win enforcement and defeat amnesty. FAIR’s Government Relations staff will keep you updated to let you know what YOUR elected officials are doing.

Tell the House Majority Leader Americans Want Enforcement-Only Immigration Reform!

While Members of Congress were in their districts for the Easter/Passover recess, we asked you to make calls and visits to your elected officials to let them know enforcement is the only reasonable answer to our immigration crisis. Newspapers across the country are reporting the overwhelming response Members received from you. Most notably, Majority Leader Boehner was quoted as saying, "Until you strengthen the borders and begin to enforce the laws, we're not making any progress. Americans are very upset about the porous nature of our borders."

Let’s make sure the Majority Leader never forgets he uttered these words and the American public is who they should take direction from, not from the open-borders lobby. Our national security and sovereignty is more important than businesses profiting from slave labor. The Majority Leader will be in his district office for Friday, April 28th and Monday, May 1st. Please reach out to his office at the number below.

Majority Leader Boehner (R-OH) (513) 779-5400

FAIR Learns from Hill Sources:
Hastert will Buck the American Public and Appoint Members Favoring Guest Worker Amnesty to House Conference Committee
Throughout the Senate debate on immigration reform, members of the Senate have tried to develop strategy around the Conference Committee. The Conference Committee will be made up of Members from both the House of Representatives and the Senate appointed by the Leadership of each chamber. The Conference Committee is responsible for hammering out the differences of the enforcement/border security bill the House passed in December (H.R. 4437) and whatever legislation the Senate can pass.

As we explained above, the Senate will bring up the Hagel-Martinez guest worker amnesty legislation as they try to address immigration reform once again. If the Senate manages to pass a guest worker amnesty, which we will fight every step of the way, the guest worker amnesty will be “conferenced” with the House’s H.R. 4437. Speaker Dennis Hastert will help decide which Members of the House he will send to work with the Senate on a final immigration reform package. Speaker Hastert is indicating that he favors appointing members who support amnesty to the Conference Committee. Both President Bush and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist are pressuring Hastert to secure a guest worker amnesty for which the President can claim credit by stacking the Conference Committee with amnesty backers!

Why President Bush, Majority Leader Frist and Speaker Hastert are more than willing to give this country away is anyone’s guess, but we need you to help. We urge you to contact all four of Speaker Hastert’s offices. He needs to know that he should be siding with the American public and not with the corporate special interests Bush and Frist want to please.

Please call all four telephone numbers to tell Speaker Hastert that backers of H.R. 4437 should be in any Conference Committee! Strong enforcement-only Members of the House to represent the American people!

Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) Office Phone Numbers
Speaker’s Office (202) 225-0600
Hastert’s Personal DC Office (202) 225-2976
Batavia District Office (630) 406-1114
Dixon District Office (815) 288-0680


Don’t Forget to Thank Our Friends!
The exact timing of when the Hagel-Martinez bill will return to the floor is uncertain. However, before it does, we would like you to take a minute of your time to make some “thank you” calls to Senators who have stood up for America and the nation’s best interest rather than special interests. These are some of our friends we would like you to thank.

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) (202) 224-4124
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) (202) 224-5754
Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) (202) 224-4521
Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) (202) 224-3643
Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) (202) 224-6551
Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) (202) 224-3954

I heard about this last night. Frist was in some backdoor dealings. Aaargh...This may go on for a while and in the mean time nothing will be done to secure the border.

Really, that is all I am asking for at this point. Enforce legal immigration. What does it take to get this through to anyone in Washington DC?

I am starting to read about the problems Small Town USA is starting to have, and that should be a big sign saying this has gone too far out of hand.

We had a Town Hall meeting with some influential people last night. About 1,000 people where there. Our major newspaper in town DID NOT even run a tiny column on the event. But, they go out of there way to talk about how Johny just came here to work. There has to be a way to get there attention w/out them knowing it is about Illegal Immigration.