Facts about the bill are summarized here.
You can send free faxes to your Senators here.
Or call!
Don't just sit there reading a blog, do something!
This action e-mail summarizes 14 talking points that are critical flaws in the bill for talking with Senator staffers:
ACTION No. 1: Phone both of your Senators again today.NumbersUSA has compiled the following helpful list of where various Senators stand:
Choose one or two of the flaws to talk about in your call.
You can reach the D.C. office of ALL Senators at:
202-224-3121
Tell them it will not be enough to vote NO on the final passage. If they want credit for opposing amnesty, they have to vote NO on all clotures and other procedural votes that would allow the bill back on the floor in the first place.
...
In prefacing the list, Sen. Sessions indicated that he is “deeply concerned about the numerous loopholes…found in this legislation,” which he sees as “more than technical errors, but rather symptoms of a fundamentally flawed piece of legislation that stands no chance of actually fixing our broken immigration system.” Furthermore, Sen. Sessions said, “Many of the loopholes are indicative of a desire not to have the system work.”
Flaw No. 1: Sen. Sessions pointed to perhaps the biggest flaw by noting that the “‘enforcement trigger’ fails to require the U.S. VISIT system – the biometric border check-in/check-out system established by Congress in 1996, but never implemented – to be fully functioning before new worker or amnesty programs begin. Without the system in place, the U.S. has no method of ensuring that workers and their families do not overstay their visas.”
Flaw No. 2: While most Americans tell pollsters they want less immigration, this bill dramatically increases overall immigration. It TRIPLES chain migration through the year 2016 – all the while sanctioning a mass importation of low-skill foreign workers and, by extension, a mass importation of poverty into this country.
Flaw No. 3: Illegal aliens get “legal status before enforcement” begins;
Flaw No. 4: The “triggers” require “no more agents, beds, or fencing than current law” mandates;
Flaw No. 5: The completion of background checks, including checks against criminal and terrorist databases, is “not required for” the granting of amnesty (in this bill, it is referred to as “probationary status”).
Flaw No. 6: Criminals of all kinds – including gang members, some child molesters, and absconders (i.e., “aliens who have already had their day in court and who are now subject to…removal” [covering “more than 636,000 fugitives”) are eligible for the bill’s mass amnesty;
Flaw No. 7: “Illegal aliens with terrorism connections are not barred from getting amnesty. An illegal alien seeking most immigration benefits must merely show ‘good moral character.’”
Flaw No. 8: Illegal aliens granted amnesty or guestworkers imported via the new “Y” “temporary worker” program can claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, which “will cost taxpayers billions in just 10 years”;
Flaw No. 9: “Affidavits from friends” are acceptable as evidence of satisfying requirements for amnesty, thus “invit fraud and more illegal immigration”;
Flaw No. 10: “In-state tuition and other higher education benefits…will be made available to current illegal aliens that are granted [amnesty>, even if the same instate tuition rates are not offered to all U.S. citizens,” a violation of current Federal law, which “mandates that educational institutions give citizens the same postsecondary education benefits they offer to illegal aliens”;
Flaw No. 11: New visas are created for individuals who are prone to overstaying their period of authorized admission – namely, the new “parent” visa, which allows parents of citizens, and the spouses and children of new temporary workers, to visit a worker in the United States. Not only is this term “a misnomer, but also an invitation for high rates of visa overstays” because it “specifically allows the spouse and children of new temporary workers who intend to abandon their residence in a foreign country, to qualify to come to the U.S. to ‘visit.’” To obtain the visa, one must only post a $1,000 bond, “which will be forfeited when, not if, family members of new temporary workers decide to overstay their 30 day visit. Workers should travel to their home countries to visit their families, not the other way around”;
Flaw No. 12: To be granted amnesty, illegal aliens need not pay back income taxes;
Flaw No. 13: Social Security credits for work done while in the United States illegally will be granted to “[a>liens who came to the U.S. on legal visas, but overstayed their visas and have been working in the U.S. for years, as well as illegal aliens who apply for Z visa status but do not qualify”; and
Flaw No. 14: “The criminal fines an illegal alien is required to pay to receive amnesty are less than the bill’s criminal fines for paperwork violations committed by U.S. citizens, and can be paid by installment,” which means that “the fine for illegally entering, using false documents to work, one-tenth the fine for a paperwork violation committed by a government official.”
THESE SENATORS VOTED 'NO' TWO WEEKS AGO BUT NEED A LOT MORE PUSH TO VOTE 'NO' THIS WEEKDon't just sit there reading a blog, do something!
Our coalition of advocacy and Senate allies say they are very hopeful to win these Senators over but that they also could easily vote YES at this point.
If we defeat the amnesty this week, it will be because you did a fantastic job in getting nearly all of these to vote NO.
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-Calif.)
Burr (R-N.C.)
Chambliss (R-Ga.)
Cochran (R-Miss.)
Ensign (R-Nev.)
Gregg (R-N.H.)
Hatch (R-Utah)
Hutchison (R-Texas)
Isakson (R-Ga.)
Smith (R-Oregon)
Sununu (R-N.H.)
Sanders (I-Vt.)
Webb (D-Va.)
Thank these Senators for their NO vote and then read a couple of FLAWS to help them understand why they should keep voting NO.
VOTED 'YES' ON AMNESTY 2 WEEKS AGO BUT CONSIDERED GOOD POSSIBILITIES TO SWITCH TO 'NO' THIS WEEK IF THEIR CONSTITUENTS PROVIDE THEM ENOUGH REASON
Conrad (D-N.D.)
Levin (D-Mich.)
Nelson (D-Neb.)
Stabenow (D-Mich.)
CONSIDERED LONG-SHOTS FOR VOTING 'NO' THIS WEEK EVEN THOUGH THEY VOTED 'NO' ON AMNESTY 2 WEEKS AGO
These folks need a whole lot of help. Please give it to them. Tell them they were right to vote NO two weeks ago and that no amendment that has been proposed for this round will make the bill enough better to deserve a YES vote this week. Thus, they should vote NO on all attempts to even bring this bill to a floor and vote NO on any attempt to try to bring up a package of amendments.
Bennett (R-Utah)
Brownback (R-Kan.) -- didn't vote 2 weeks ago but generally pro-amnesty
Coleman (R-Minn.)
Collins (R-Maine)
Domenici (R-N.M.)
McConnell (R-Ky.)
Murkowski (R-Alaska)
Snowe (R-Maine)
Stevens (R-Alaska)
Warner (R-Va.)
PRO-AMNESTY SENATORS WITH A SLIGHT POSSIBILITY OF BEING SWITCHED
Because of opposition from labor unions to the guest worker provisions, a few of these Democrats might switch if they felt enough heat from their constituents.
You should not give up on these Senators. At the very least, make them feel nervous about casting a YES vote. Several of these are presidential candidates who have to be thinking how this will affect them in the general election.
Bayh (D-Ind.)
Biden (D-Del.)
Brown (D-Ohio)
Casey (D-Pa.)
Clinton (D-N.Y.)
Craig (R-Idaho)
Durbin (D-Ill.)
Dodd (D-Conn.)
Feingold (D-Wis.)
Harkin (D-Iowa)
Inouye (D-Hawaii)
Kohl (D-Wis.)
Kyl (R-Ariz.)
Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
Leahy (D-Vt.)
Lincoln (D-Ark.)
Lott (R-Miss.)
Murray (D-Wash.)
Nelson (D-Fla.)
Obama (D-Ill.)
Reed (D-R.I.)
Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
Wyden (D-Oregon)
SENATORS WHO APPEAR TO BE 'LOST CAUSES' BUT WHO SHOULD FEEL THE WRATH FOR THEIR ABSOLUTE CALLOUSNESS TOWARD AMERICAN WORKERS AND COMMUNITIES
Akaka (D-Hawaii)
Cantwell (D-Wash.)
Cardin (D-Md.)
Carper (D-Del.)
Feinstein (D-Calif.)
Graham (R-S.C.)
Hagel (R-Neb.)
Kennedy (D-Mass.)
Kerry (D-Mass.)
Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
Lieberman (I-Conn.)
Lugar (R-Ind.)
Martinez (R-Fla.)
McCain (R-Ariz.)
Menendez (D-N.J.)
Mikulski (D-Md.)
Reid (D-Nev.)
Salazar (D-Colo.)
Specter (R-Pa.)
Voinovich (R-Ohio)
THESE SENATORS ARE OUR CHAMPIONS AND DON'T NEED PHONE CALLS RIGHT NOW
Bunning (R-Ky.)
Byrd (D-W.Va.)
Coburn (R-Okla.)
DeMint (R-S.C.)
Dole (R-N.C.)
Dorgan (D-N.D.)
Enzi (R-Wyo.)
Inhofe (R-Okla.)
McCaskill (D-Mo.)
Roberts (R-Kan.)
Sessions (R-Ala.)
Shelby (R-Ala.)
Tester (D-Mont.)
Vitter (R-La.)
PROBABLY VOTING 'NO' BUT MAY NEED SOME EXTRA CALLS FROM YOU
Alexander (R-Tenn.)
Allard (R-Colo.)
Baucus (D-Mont.)
Bond (R-Mo.)
Corker (R-Tenn.)
Cornyn (R-Texas)
Crapo (R-Idaho)
Grassley (R-Iowa)
Landrieu (D-La.)
Pryor (D-Ark.)
Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)
Thune (R-S.D.)
