It's Constituent Week--Do not be silent

This week is Constituent week because neither the House nor the Senate are in session, so this week is a great time to give your elected officials a call at their home offices and let your voices be heard.

Remember it's best to have a few well reasoned points and politely but passionately get your point instead of letting expletives fly and screaming into the phone about how livid you are about how they've been representing you in the House and Senate.

In other related news, the Heritage Foundation released a great article on the Ten Worst Provisions of Title VI of Senator Kennedy's proposed Illegal Immigration bill (pdf available here and also here).

Here are a few quick points that you NEED to know about this proposed bill. There are easily 10's if not hundreds of issues with this bill. President

It would create a new "Z" visa exclusively for illegal aliens. This title would change the status of those who are here illegally to legal, essentially granting amnesty to those "previously in unlawful status." This seriously flawed proposal would undermine the rule of law by granting massive benefits to those who have willfully violated U.S. laws, while denying those benefits to those who have played by the rules and sometimes even to U.S. citizens.

Under Section 601(h)(1), the bill would allow the government only one business day to conduct a background check to determine whether an applicant is a criminal or terrorist. Unless the government can find a reason not to grant it by the end of the next business day after the alien applies, the alien receives a probationary Z visa (good from the time of approval until six months after the date Z visas begin to be approved, however long that may be) that lets him roam throughout the country and seek employment legally.

This could legitimize terror cells here in the United States and allow them the opportunity to roam freely from their home country and back again with no fear of being prosecuted for illegal immigration.

Under Section 601(g)(2) of the bill, gang members would be eligible to receive amnesty. . . Deporting illegal-alien gang members has been a top ICE priority. The Senate bill would end that. To qualify for amnesty, all a gang member would need to do is note his gang membership and sign a "renunciation of gang affiliation."

President Bush even said, “... a comprehensive immigration plan in place that makes it more likely we can enforce our border and, at the same time, uphold the great traditions of immigrant traditions of the United States of America?” You'll notice that he says that it only makes it more likely that we'll be able to better enforce our borders, only more likely that we can uphold the great immigrant traditions of the United States of America.

This bill is so pervasive that they've even included gun control provisions in this immigration bill. I wonder what else might be found or tacked on if it ever gets to discussion and amendments.

I Charge you all to Call, Write, Fax, and Email your elected officials let them know that if they don't filibuster this 326 page nightmare they'll have to find themselves a new job next election year. Unfortunately, I think sometimes this is the only tune some politicians can dance to.

It's often said that doing something is better than not doing anything, but in the case of this bill passing a bad immigration bill is worse than not passing any immigration bill.

Lastly, I'll share a letter that I wrote to one of my elected officials regarding the Sen. Kennedy Amnesty bill.

Representative Murphy:

Warm greetings to you on this beautiful spring day. I'm writing you as a registered and regular voter to express my views on Senator Kennedy's Immigration Reform bill dubiously labeled the "Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007". While many tout the great compromises this bill makes, I am not so optimistic that this is the position our country should take regarding Illegal immigration.

First of all, this bill sends a mixed message about the crime of violating our nation's borders. This bill will in effect encourage the very thing it attempts to halt, more illegal immigration. This bill is much more pervasive than former President Reagan's amnesty bill.

Second, I do not like that this bill treats immigrants from special interest countries (e.g. Iran, Syria, Sudan, and other countries which are known sponsors of terrorism) with the same regard as those who are natural born citizens from the countries of Latin America. There needs to be a distinction!

Next, I'm opposed to the idea of the "Next day" temporary visas for all that apply (as long as a criminal background check does not discover a criminal record in 24 hours). This provision is not only asnine but it's logistically very difficult. Not every country has an organized, electronic system of record keeping. This temporary visa alone could guarantee years of amnesty as long as the border fence is not completed and "certified." Also these provisions for Z-Visas would futher legitimize any illegal aliens here in our country for malicious purposes enabling people with possible (although yet undiscovered) terror connections to freely travel in and out of our country without garnering any further scrutiny.

Lastly I'm opposed to the anemic provision of a mere 370 miles of border fencing. Why would this (or any immigration bill) not include a provision for complete control over our nation's borders?

I think a much better approach to our illegal immigration problem would be to stop the flow completely first, assuring the American public that it is a 'rare' occurrence that someone enters our country illegally. Let the immigration problem work it's way out through attrition. Then and only then can we responsibly talk about what we should do with the remaining illegal immigrants that are in this country.


It is for these reasons and many many others (too numerous for me to document all of them) that I ask you to filibuster this bill when it comes up for discussion. This bill is beyond saving. There are no number of amendments or revisions that can make this bill a good bill. It needs to be stopped before more time is wasted debating how to fix it. Sometimes the best option is to just scrap a project and start over, and it's increasingly apparent that this is what should be done with this bill.

This is something I feel very strongly about and I will not compromise on a bill that does more harm than good.

Please keep me informed of your positions regarding Senator Kennedy's Immigration 'Reform' bill.

Sincerely,

Allen