Congress Moves Forward On Amnesty Reform Legislation…Piece by Piece

Astonished by and unprepared for the overwhelming public opposition to immigration reforms favoring legal status for millions of illegal aliens this year, members of Congress have since devised a new strategy for pushing through similar legislation to achieve amnesty.

Since the defeat of the Bush-Kennedy immigration reform bill, members of the House and Senate have shred this bill into several pieces and are attempting to introduce them as stand-alone pieces of legislation or amendments to other new bills. The backers of these smaller bills are hoping the American public will not notice!

PROPOSED

AgJobs (S. 340) which would grant amnesty to illegal alien farm workers, is back again…and is likely to be brought to the Senate floor as early as next week. Having been rejected several times, it has been resurrected as an "add-on" to the proposed 2008 Farm Bill.

DEFEATED

The DREAM Act of 2007 (S. 2205) : proposed in March, and reintroduced and defeated this week, contained the same costly, unfair provisions including granting millions of illegal aliens legal status and put them on the fast-track to citizenship; and tax-payer funded assistance for those who are college students. Sponsors of the DREAM Act tried to attach it to the Defense Authorization Bill, and this time failed to get the necessary votes to pass as a stand-alone bill. If passed, this would have been a turning point for illegal aliens seeking a "foot in the door" for amnesty.

The Vitter amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) Appropriations Bill (H.R. 3093) which would have withheld federal funding for a community policing program from municipalities with sanctuary policies in place. Currently, numerous cities around the country, including Los Angeles and New York, have sanctuary policies that bar law enforcement from inquiring into the immigration status of criminal suspects. The result is that thousands of criminal aliens pass through the hands of law enforcement undetected. Had the Vitter amendment passed, it would have pressured municipalities to repeal their sanctuary policies rather than forego essential community policing funds.
It is obvious that opponents of sensible immigration reform in Congress have adopted a "divide and conquer" strategy in the hope that we will not be able to identify and mobilize the American public as we did earlier this year against the Senate amnesty bill.

As Congress continues to introduce and reintroduce immigration reform legislation during this session, FAIR remains vigilant, prepared to act quickly to defeat destructive bills, and fight for the ones we must have. And remember, amnesty legislation need pass only once to become the law of the land; we must win every time to prevent this from happening! FAIR needs your support now to remain poised to act effectively on behalf of sensible immigration reform.

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