Thread: ALERT! from Numbers USA..please read and act!!!

From: Roy Beck, President, NumbersUSA
Date: Thursday 6DEC07 2:30 p.m. EST



Phone & fax your 3 Members of Congress this aft and all day Friday to stop sneak increases
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DEAR FRIENDS OF TRANQUIL COMMUNITIES AND AMERICAN WORKERS,

Hundreds and hundreds of landscapers and other advocates for high immigration fanned across Capitol Hill this week, pounding on doors and insisting that Congress provide them with more foreign labor.

They believe they still have a chance that big increases in foreign labor will be sneaked into the giant appropriations bills that have to be passed before Christmas.

Your action is needed immediately.

NumbersUSA's Action Buffet Team has already placed on your corkboard a phone action note and a fax action note to help you counteract all the open-borders lobbying this week.

PHONE CONGRESS at:
202-224-3121

A lot of our opponents in Congress and in lobbying groups believe that most of you in the NumbersUSA Action Network only care about stopping amnesties for illegal aliens and about securing the border.

Our opponents often suggest that you aren't motivated enough about protecting American workers themselves, especially the most vulnerable workers, to stop Congress from further flooding various labor markets with imported foreign workers.

We really need to prove our opponents wrong this week.

The landscapers and their ilk were suggesting that they are on the verge of going out of business and that the American economy is in danger because of severe labor shortages -- unless Congress sneaks through huge increases in foreign labor this month.

I hope a bunch of you will call and say something like: "I mow my own lawn. Let the wealthy people hiring landscapers pay whatever it costs to get Americans to do the jobs. The Census Bureau says 23 million Americans without higher education currently don't have a job. There are plenty of people not working who could be enticed into these jobs. But any foreign worker imported for these jobs would require taxpayer subsidies."

Also, I think some key points should be something like:

With the downturn in housing and other weakening of the economy, less-skilled American workers are facing some tough times. The last thing we should do is import more foreign workers to compete with them for the remaining jobs.


Recent Census data show that foreign worker households are far more likely to require taxpayer subsidies. Why would we import more of these costs to taxpayers when forcing landscapers to recruit and hire Americans would actually reduce taxpayer subsidies.


I've heard that landscapers have been all over Capitol Hill this week pushing for increases in foreign workers. I urge you to pass appropriations bills that have no increases of any kind of foreign workers.

Because there are at least a dozen different proposals to increase foreign workers of all kinds, I'm not asking you to refer to specific amendments or their sponsors.

What I want is for Congress today to immediately be reminded that there are far more constituents who want less immigration than the selfish businesses asking for more.

THANKS A LOT, EVERYBODY.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT CONGRESS NOT FORGET YOU ARE OUT THERE DURING THESE CRITICAL WEEKS OF PASSING APPROPRIATIONS BILLS.


P.S. We can triple our membership quickly if our members email their friends about us and they in turn email theirs. Polls show that most Americans agree with NumbersUSA's positions but, despite our recent rapid growth, most American voters still have never heard of us. You can help change that by forwarding this email widely. (Note: depending on your email provider, you may need to send this as an "attachment.")

http://www.numbersusa.com/index

I have been at this one all week .

C'mon everyone. Let's call!

Looks like this is what Roy is talking about. Another biased article shilling for cheap, foreign labor. Please call Congress and rebut this:
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Landscapers say visa exemption for foreigners vital to their business
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Elizabeth Auster
Plain Dealer Bureau
Washington - Landscapers from Greater Cleveland say the raging battle over immigration could soon claim another victim: the lawns of Northeast Ohio.

The landscapers fanned out across Capitol Hill on Wednesday to warn that their businesses could soon collapse, leaving their American employees and countless lawns in the lurch, unless Congress extends a visa exemption that previously let them hire foreigners for seasonal jobs like mowing and mulching.

The exemption, which expired Sept. 30, has become entangled in the bitter aftermath of Congress' failure to agree on broader immigration reform.

With lawmakers rushing to finish work before the holidays, the landscapers say they're terrified Congress won't act in time to let them hire foreigners next spring for grueling jobs that they say most Americans don't want.

"It's do or die," said Joe Drake, who runs a landscaping company in Geauga County that employs about eight American workers year-round and about 16 Mexican workers at the height of the season.

"It scares me. It really scares me," said Lois Rhea of Chagrin Falls, who works as a job supervisor for Lanhan Landscaping in Euclid.

Rhea said she fears she will lose her job if her company closes or downsizes. "I'm a divorced woman in my 60s. So who's going to hire me?"

The landscapers, who are being joined in Washington by other companies that use seasonal foreign workers, hope to persuade Congress to renew at least for one year an exemption that lets them bring in foreigners they've hired previously under the H-2B visa program. The regular H-2B visa program has an annual cap of 66,000 workers, far less than the demand for such workers nationwide. Under the exemption, returning workers aren't counted in the cap.

Without the exemption, Ohio landscaping companies -- particularly those in the northern part of the state -- say they have little hope of hiring foreign workers next year because the cap is likely to be exhausted by the time they apply. Companies can't apply until 120 days before the date they need workers, and Ohio's cold climate means that they must apply later than companies in warmer climates.

Even within Ohio, the climate difference has an impact. Chris Hayes, who works for a landscaping company in Cincinnati, said his season begins Feb. 1, compared to March 15 for Drake in Geauga County.

Both of Ohio's senators back legislation to extend the exemption for returning workers. Sandy Munley, executive director of the Ohio Landscape Association, based in Broadview Heights, said the group is still working on some House lawmakers from Ohio.

Cleveland Democratic Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, one of the holdouts, said Wednesday that she is wary of allowing more foreigners to get work visas when unemployment in her district is high.

She wants more reassurance, she said, that the government is rigorously enforcing rules that require landscapers and other companies to seek out American workers first.

"I'm not one who believes that these are jobs that Americans won't do," she said.

Similar concerns have kept some lawmakers from supporting visa extensions in the past. But the biggest problem facing the landscapers this year appears to be opposition from Hispanic lawmakers who fear Congress will have little incentive to pass broader immigration reform -- including a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants -- if individual industries get separate legislation to address their needs for foreign workers.

California Democratic Rep. Joe Baca, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in a statement Wednesday that he appreciates that landscapers and other businesses need H-2B visas, but that is only one part of a larger problem.

"That should be just another checkmark in the column as to why this Congress must take real action on immigration reform," said Baca.

Ohio landscapers say they are frustrated that gridlock over immigration could block them from getting workers who don't even want to move to the United States permanently.

Jim Schill, who runs a landscaping company in Sheffield with his brothers, said about half of his company's 60 workers are foreigners using the seasonal visas.

"If we don't get our guys back, it'll cut the work we can do in half," he said.

The landscapers had pinned their hopes on the efforts of Maryland Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a longtime champion of the program who authored a provision in a Senate spending bill that would extend the exemption in 2008. Melissa Schwartz, a spokeswoman for Mikulski, acknowledged that the prospects for House approval are worrisome.

"It is a very desperate situation," she said.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindeal ... xml&coll=2

bttt

Please, Patriots. Jump on this item Friday, December 7!!!

I'm on this.

Roy Beck's information is confirmed. I called both Senator Burr's and Dole's offices. They said that earlier this week, contingents of business lobbyists came through their offices lobbying for increases in the H-2B visa program. They are claiming that they don not have enough foreign workers to do the jobs Americans wont do.

I called my Congressman's office and they said they haven't seen the H-2B lobbyists yet this week.

Call your Senators and Congressperson, this weekend if possible and leave a message (or early next week) that you are opposed to any increases in H-2B visa. We do not need to bring more foreign workers into the country.

Talking points:

1. We have 23 million low skilled American citizens (as per the Census Bureau) that are without jobs. These companies refuse to pay a decent, living wage so Americans can take these jobs. Instead, they'd rather bring foreign nationals into the country to further displace Americans.

2. Many of these foreign workers that are brought legally into the country through the H-2B visa program, do not return home at their visa expiration, thereby becoming illegal aliens by overstaying their visas. They then further burden our economy and society.

3. Business needs to learn how to once again serve the best interests of the U.S. by employing citizens and legal residents and stop looking to squeeze even greater profits by bringing in more foreign workers.

4. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) has confirmed that illegal immigrants are a net cost loss (burden) to state and local governments. Without a firm return policy attached to the H-2B visa program that forces those with expired visas to leave, the foreign worker further contributes to the problem.

5. Other studies have shown that recent immigrants use social and health care services in greater proportions than their representative population percentage. By far, illegal immigrants, utilize these services in greater number than legal immigrants and citizens.

I've been calling on this for the past couple of days. Please everyone, make some calls.