Thread: Update from National Immigration Law Center

KNOW THY ENEMY...
We certainly have THEIR attention.


Here's the latest alert from the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) (http://www.nilc.org/) urging folks to spread the lies and call their senators.


***URGENT ACTION NEEDED***
CALL YOUR SENATORS

Monday, September 24, 2007

DC senate offices are getting slammed by the anti-immigrant forces with hundreds of thousands of calls!!

Message from DREAM Act Opponents:

"This was the second full day of pressure on the Senate offices. That kind of sustained activism begins to be noticed by the top staffers and eventually by the Senators themselves. The DREAM Act, which has been deftly hidden as a provision in the Defense Authorization Bill, will allow any illegal alien to simply claim "amnesty" by declaring they entered the United States before the age of 16. This naïve provision leaves open the door for millions of illegal aliens to claim and achieve amnesty - indeed a DREAM Act for illegal aliens. There is no penalty for illegal behavior. By making the DREAM Act Amnesty amendment seem really controversial, you may be succeeding in moving it farther back on the calendar. Ideally, the Senate Democratic leaders will decide to just pull it. We need to build a toxic force on Capitol Hill to poison this amnesty. Thanks to all of you who have been contacting Talk Radio to get the hosts to take some time away from their O.J. stories and focus on this threat." - 9/18/07

We must respond now. Anti-immigrant groups have blanketed the internet and talk radio with misinformation about the DREAM Act. It is interesting that they have to lie and exaggerate to scare their base into responding to such a common sense piece of legislation.

This week represents the best chance we will have this year to pass the DREAM Act in the Senate. It is not certain it will be brought up. It is not certain we will win. Those things depend, in part, on your response. We need to respond at a higher level than ever before.

Call and fax both of your Senators today and every day. When you are done, forward this e-mail to everyone you can think of. Then follow up the e-mail with a call to ensure that those who get your message do the same.

You can find your Senators' phone numbers by clicking here (http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/tr ... %2Fhome%2F)
and entering your zip code.


Here is the short but sweet message for both calls and faxes

"PLEASE VOTE FOR THE DURBIN-HAGEL-LUGAR
DREAM ACT AMENDMENT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL
SO THAT IMMIGRANT STUDENTS BROUGHT HERE AS CHILDREN
CAN REALIZE THEIR POTENTIAL"

Your Senators' phone numbers are online at:
http://www.senate.gov/general /contact_information/senators _cfm.cfm


What else you can do:

* Forward this message to every listserv and everyone you know and follow up with calls to make sure your friends take action
* Post it on blogs, MySpace, Facebook, or other on-line networking tools
* Call in to C-SPAN or other radio or television shows where there is some hope of a sympathetic audience (not anti-immigrant propaganda sites)

The DREAM Act in Brief:

The DREAM Act is narrowly tailored
It would apply only to individuals brought to the U.S. at least 5 years ago as children, who have grown up here, and who have remained in school and out of trouble. They could get a green card 6 years after graduating from high school if during that time they continue on to college or serve in the military.

The DREAM Act is not a "mini-amnesty"
At its core, amnesty is forgiveness for wrongdoing. That does not apply to DREAM Act students who were all brought here years ago as children. The DREAM Act rewards them for staying in school or serving our country.

The DREAM Act would benefit taxpayers
The DREAM Act would provide hope to immigrant students and lead many more of them to remain in school. As an example of the fiscal benefits of this, a RAND study showed that a 30-year-old Mexican immigrant woman who graduates from college will pay $5,300 more in taxes and cost $3,900 less in government expenses each year than if she had dropped out of high school. This amounts to an annual fiscal benefit of over $9,000 per person every year, money that can be used to pay for the education of other children. State and local taxpayers have already invested in the education of these children in elementary and secondary school and deserve to get a return on their investment

You can find more information about the DREAM Act here. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/tr ... Findex.htm

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