Thread: NumbersUSA About Today's House Hearing

From: Roy Beck NumbersUSA <immigrationinfo@numbersusa.com> Add to Address Book
Date: 2006/09/13 Wed AM 01:35:13 EDT
Subject: About today's House hearing


From: Roy Beck, President, NumbersUSA
Date: Wednesday 13SEP06 1:30 a.m. EDT

Your phones & faxes helped create very promising hearing by U.S. House leadership

DEAR FRIENDS,

Your NumbersUSA staff saw several reasons for hope in the much-anticipated hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday afternoon called by the House Republican leadership.

We feel certain that your flood of phone calls and faxes this past week -- and particularly on Tuesday itself -- played a role in keeping the speakers at the hearing mostly in line with our goals for enforcement against illegal immigration.

We don't mean to make too much of these signs of hope. That's why we will be vigilant every day this month to try to keep House Republican leaders from reneging on their promises to do something important toward reducing illegal immigration this fall.

Reasons for hope that significant enforcement measures can be passed by House and Senate this month to the President's desk for signature:

No. 1 Speaker of the House Hastert (R-IL) repeatedly referred to "illegal aliens" throughout the hearing.

No politically correct, wishy-washy language about "undocumented workers", etc. One time, he got part way into saying "illegal immigrant," stopped and corrected himself by then saying "illegal alien."

I guess the 3-day march sponsored by Miller Beer over Labor Day weekend -- illegal aliens and supporters marching from Chicago to Speaker Hastert's home office -- didn't win him over after all.

Speaker Hastert's use of the term suggests that he may be truly committed to having the House do something that will win votes for Republicans in November on the basis of getting tough on illegal immigration. Let's hope Democratic leaders decide to compete for those votes.

No. 2 The testimony from the House committee chairmen about their hearings across the country this summer went beyond merely talking about beefing up the border -- to other essential areas of enforcement.

Believe me, we strongly believe with the poet Robert Frost that good fences can make good neighbors and that we need many more Border Patrol and other border elements. But we are absolutely clear that efforts to deal with illegal immigration only at the border will fail. You have to have robust Interior Enforcement, too.

Until Tuesday, it had sounded like the Republicans were hoping to win public approval merely by pushing through more money for border security. We can't help but think that all of your efforts in contacting the offices of the participants in the hearing made some difference.

No. 3 Mandatory workplace verification of all new hires was out in the open!

We had asked all of you to really emphasize the importance of this tool in your calls and faxes. Thanks.

Roy Blunt (R-MO) brought it up first. That is a very good sign that it was raised early in the hearing by the Majority Whip, the No. 3 Republican leader in the House.

Then the strongest push came from Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN) who is the chairman of the House subcommittee on immigration. Hostettler (who unfortunately is widely considered one of the most likely incumbents to be defeated for re-election in November) testified that the single most important provision in H.R. 4437 passed by the House last December was the mandatory workplace verification. He said Congress has to pass that and get the process moving to put it in place as fast as possible.

No. 4 Rep. Putnam (R-FL), who chaired the hearing, did not express any sentiment in favor of expanded guestworker programs or amnesties, which he has favored in the past.

We warned you of his checkered record. We know that scores of you called Rep. Putnam's office and expressed concern that he would be chairing this hearing.

His good behavior is another indication that Republican leadership wants to stick to enforcement for now.

No. 5 Amazingly, key leadership figures were in the room most of the 3 hours.

That is quite a rare thing for major leaders to sit through most of three hours of a meeting in a House environment usually marked by Members of Congress wandering into meetings only for a few minutes.

Speaker Hastert and Majority Whip Blunt sat with Republican Policy Committee Chairman Putnam for the whole thing. Majority Leader Boehner (R-OH) was in and out throughout. Rep. Cantor (R-VA), the No. 4 Republican in the House, sat through most of it.

The leaders were active participants, asking lots of good questions. Speaker Hastert's theme was that every state is a border state and that every city is a border city, meaning that nobody in America can consider him/herself out of danger from the costs of illegal immigration.

All of this was a bit of a surprise for us because the Republican leaders who asked questions and who testified are, on average, considerably worse in fighting out-of-control immigration than most House Republicans.

Rep. Thomas (R-CA), Ways & Means Chairman, was the only leader who misbehaved. Even while concluding that the nation needs far better Interior Enforcement, he said our economy would collapse without all the illegal workers. We immediately contacted many of you in California to start a calling campaign to Thomas' offices to protest his confused understanding of economics.

No. 6 We heard a lot of coments about the need for the feds to respond much more aggressively to state and local law enforcement officials who apprehend illegal aliens.

No. 7: You NumbersUSA activists are awesome.

Day after day, you are pounding Members of Congress from all different directions, nudging them into better positions.

Last week, all we heard about the GOP plan was to add border enforcement money to appropriations.

You all just keep hammering the Members with the message that baby steps don't count this fall.

Please go to your personalized Action Buffet corkboard and make sure you have taken every opportunity to stress the need for:

A. Attrition Through Enforcement.

B. Mandatory Workplace Verification of New Hires.

C. Federal Cooperation With Local Law Enforcement to Pick Up Illegal Aliens Who Have Been Detained.

Here's the link to your corkboard:

www.NumbersUSA.com/actionbuffet

On Tuesday, you all sent about
35,000 faxes

On Monday, you sent about
69,000 faxes

DON'T LET UP,

-- ROY
.

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Until Tuesday, it had sounded like the Republicans were hoping to win public approval merely by pushing through more money for border security. We can't help but think that all of your efforts in contacting the offices of the participants in the hearing made some difference.

Sorry Republicans, but that isn't enough and the American people are watching you more closely than ever before. We want and expect more! Americans deserve better than the shaft we've been getting for too long.