Four days left to convince Senators to oppose amnesty

There are four days left, just four days to make sure your Senators know that you oppose the Senate immigration bill. During those four days, Senators are at home with their constituents in their states, and that means your state. Here are some things you can do:

Call your Senator's district office nearest you (or even all of them) and voice your opposition to granting amnesty for illegal aliens.
Ask for a list of any local events where the Senator will be appearing
Make signs opposing the amnesty, grab a dozen friends, and stand peacefully outside the Senators' office (be sure to call your local newspaper and let them know what you're doing)
Call local talk radio and write letters to the editor
Call your local Republican or Democratic party officials and let them know you will not support any candidate who votes for the Kennedy-Kyl amnesty.
Remember, each state has two Senators, so don't let one of your Senators feel ignored.

Find the names, addresses and phone numbers for your Senators' district offices at http://www.usbc.org/SenateDistrictOffices.pdf. Just click on the name of your state and the information for your two Senators will appear.

North Carolina Congressman condemns immigration proposal

Walter Jones, Congressman from North Carolina's Third District, says he finds it outrageous that Senator Kennedy's compromise bill on illegal immigration "means compromising our nation's respect for the rule of law and embracing illegal aliens with open arms. Instead of pushing amnesty to reward lawbreakers, this Congress needs to take a responsible step toward meaningful immigration reform with legislation that reestablishes respect for immigration laws, demands accountability by cracking down on employers hiring illegal workers and smugglers trafficking in human beings, and confronts the emerging problem of alien gangs.

"The illegal immigration crisis is causing higher taxes for social services, higher costs for health insurance, and it costs our public schools millions every year. It also threatens our national security, as our open borders provide an easy entry point for terrorists who wish to do us harm."

"Too many illegal immigrants are able to cross our borders and too many criminals are able to exploit our immigration laws," Jones said. "It is absolutely critical that we regain control of our nation's borders and strengthen immigration enforcement - without amnesty."

Who would the immigration legislation help?

One of Mark Twain's most famous quips was “No man’s life, liberty or property is safe while the Congress is in session.” That certainly is the case in 2007. One columnist, a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, asks "Whose problem is the immigration bill supposed to solve? The country's problem with dangerously porous borders? The illegal immigrants' problem? Or politicians' problems?"

Every step, he notes, even token steps, that Congress and the administration have taken toward securing the border were the result of pressure from the voters.

He also notes that whether or not the requirements in the bill for those illegals who want to pursue citizenship are "tough," there is nothing to say that the 12 million people here illegally have to start that process. If the bill becomes law, those who do not choose to become citizens, all too likely the majority of illegal immigrants, face no more prospect of being punished for the crime of entering the country illegally than they do now.

This is perfectly consistent, he says, for a bill that seeks above all to solve politicians' problems, not the country's. God bless America.

Immigration bill opponents tally their objections

"A 'comprehensive' plan doesn’t mean much if the government can’t accomplish one of its most basic responsibilities for its citizens — securing its borders. A nation without secure borders will not long be a sovereign nation. No matter how much lipstick Washington tries to slap onto this legislative pig, it’s not going to win any beauty contests. We should scrap this “comprehensive” immigration bill and the whole debate until the government can show the American people that we have secured the borders — or at least made great headway. That would give proponents of the bill a chance to explain why putting illegals in a more favorable position than those who play by the rules is not really amnesty."

Fred Thompson is an actor and former United States senator from Tennessee.

"This proposal is nothing but a massive amnesty bill that provides expedited visas for millions of illegal immigrants. This “get-out-of-jail-free” card cannot be described as a comprehensive immigration agreement. The American economy, and the American people, are not prepared to handle such a huge and immediate influx of people in the workforce. We should not reward lawbreakers – that is the wrong message to send to the rest of the world. That message was broadcast before and we saw the consequences of that – 12 million illegal immigrants who currently reside in the US. Comprehensive immigration legislation must start with securing our borders and punishing American businesses that violate the law and flaunt the will of the public by continuing to hire illegal immigrants.”

Wisconsin Congressman James Sensenbrenner

I am sympathetic to the goal of strengthening our borders and holding employers accountable when they hire illegal immigrants. What most concerns me about this legislation are the provisions that would bring low-wage workers into this country in order to depress the wages of American workers, which are already in decline. With poverty increasing and the middle-class shrinking, we must not force American workers into even more economic distress.

Wisconsin Senator Bernie Sanders

"This immigration plan is a citizenship 'giveaway, These inherited bureaucracies do not work. I also wonder why the federal government cannot track the illegal immigrants who are in our country, who are believed to number 12 million. We should allocate $200 million to send a package to every person who's here illegally. When UPS and FedEx deliver them, we'll know exactly where they are.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich

“I did not agree to any immigration deal and was not part of the negotiations. From what I have heard about the bill, it gives amnesty to the estimated 12.5 million illegal immigrants in this country. Each low-skilled immigrant household that gets amnesty costs the American taxpayers nearly $20,000 each year if we consider only the illegal aliens given amnesty."

Sen. Jim Bunning, Kentucky Republican and a likely opponent

Wisconsin cop killer likely illegal alien

A decorated Wisconsin county sheriff's deputy was killed last week during a routine traffic stop. Investigators are questioning a man who has so many aliases they aren’t sure of his real name, the sheriff said. The Deputy had tried to pull over a 1995 Chevrolet mini-van, but the driver drove away into a subdivision, stopping when he reached the end of a cul-de-sac just outside Kenosha.

After they got out of their vehicles, the van driver pulled out a handgun and shot the Deputy once in the head. The gunman fled into woods just as a backup officer fired two shots. The Deputy was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police from numerous departments used two helicopters and dogs to search for the gunman. Residents called in tips. The suspect was found less than a mile away at 3 a.m. and gave up without incident. He was carrying a handgun. He is a 44-year-old with multiple aliases and Social Security numbers.

The Deputy, a Kenosha native, was an 18-year veteran of the Sheriff's Department who had served in the Marines. He had won several awards, including one for pulling a woman from a burning building and another for receiving shrapnel wounds after a man in a domestic dispute shot at him and hit a spotlight next to him. He and his wife have an 8-year-old daughter/

American Legion calls for rejection of amnesty legislation

The nation's largest veterans organization has called on Congress to reject proposed legislation that would grant amnesty to the 20 million illegal aliens in this country. Instead, the organization advocates aggressive enforcement of immigration laws and stronger border security as a means to reduce the illegal population in the United States.

"Rewarding illegal behavior sets a dangerous precedent and only encourages more to ignore our country's laws. It swells our population, puts an undue burden on American taxpayers and presents a significant national security risk," said National Commander Paul A. Morin.

The organization said the failure of federal authorities to enforce our immigration laws has invited the criminal element to our society. Alien gangs operate in most, if not all, major U.S. cities. Human and drug smuggling operations are prevalent along our southern border. Document fraud and identity theft are rampant among the illegal population. And throughout the country, prisons are overcrowded or full, with about 30 percent of those incarcerated being illegal immigrants.

So. Carolina Republicans cheer Romney’s opposition to amnesty bill, jeer Senator Graham’s support

The crowd at South Carolina's Republican convention cheered Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Saturday when he criticized the amnesty legislation proposed by the Bush administration a group of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. Then they booed a key ally of U.S. Sen. John McCain who defended it.

They cheered when presidential candidate Romney told them: "One simple rule: No amnesty."

During his speech and before his remarks, Romney said the proposed new visa for immigrants amounts to amnesty if it can be renewed indefinitely."If that's not a form of amnesty, I don't know what is," Romney said.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had worked directly on the bill, as had Hispanic immigration advocacy organizations such as La Raza and Maldef. When Graham explained his support for the bill to the So Carolina GOP crowd by saying “It's the best bill I think we can get to President Bush,” the crowd booed.

Kyl, McCain sell out to amnesty in immigration proposal

The Bush administration and negotiating Senators, including Democrats and a number of Republications, announced an immigration deal Thursday that makes a multistep amnesty program available to more than 12 million illegal aliens. In the program, Illegal aliens would have to come forward and receive probationary status while the government continues to build fencing and vehicle barriers on the border and institutes better checks to make sure employers are hiring legal workers.

Once the security improvements are finished, ‘probationary’ aliens could apply for a visa putting them on the path to citizenship, though they would have to return to their home countries before collecting a green card, the intermediary step to citizenship.

The plan would create a temporary worker system for future foreign workers. It would also rewrite the entire legal immigration system to favor those with key work skills rather than relatives of those already in the U.S.

The deal was announced at a press conference attended by seven Republicans, three Democrats and two Cabinet secretaries: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez. Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl, a key player in the agreement, said he felt pressure during last year's election to "do something."

Tancredo says amnesty would be "a slap in the face' to real immigrants

Presidential candidate Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Congressman, used a weekend campaign stop to emphasize that he is not again immigration, but is against illegal immigration, and its cost to taxpayers.

Tancredo said that amnesty would be "a slap in the face to all the people who did it the right way, and to those who are patiently waiting in line to legally get in."

The Congressman gained prominence for his staunch stance against illegal immigration. He told the Iowa group that he does not apologize for his conservatism, nor for his belief that Americans are not just members of a region, but citizens of a country. He said that the nation's borders are there for to protect Americans, adding that illegal immigration raises health care costs.

Time grows short for consideration of any immigration proposal, opposition is still strong

With a vote scheduled for Wednesday, U.S. Senators were still in private talks Tuesday night over what their immigration reform bill would look like. Republicans and Democrats have been locked in weeks of intense bargaining over immigration reform.

Unless a deal can be struck, Democratic Majority leader Senator Harry Reid has vowed to bring up an immigration bill held over from last year. If Reid cannot attract enough Republicans Senators to hit the 60 vote supermajority needed to launch debate in the 100-member Senate, the issue could effectively die until after 2008 presidential and congressional polls.C

Iowa Congressman Steve King says he would rather do nothing than the wrong thing when it comes to immigration reform.'I'm not for pardoning and I'm not for rewarding people that entered the United States illegally,' King says. 'This is a far broader issue...and we need to look down the road a couple of generations...because we don't get a chance to do this over and it's not the kind of toothpaste that you can put back in the tube.'

Their nation needs a new economic policy, say Mexican speakers who term emigration to U.S. "an exodus"

A major conference on immigration issues was held May 11 in the Mexican state of Michoacan, the home state of many illegal aliens now living in the U.S. Attending the conference were academics and politicians from all over the world.

Roberto Garcia Zamorra, an immigration expert from Zacatecas University in Mexico, predicted that his nation will face a crisis unless it relies less on money from migrants. The U.S. economy is slowing in sectors that employ foreign labor, such as construction, and money sent back to the homeland in remittances is expected to decline. "If we don't make a new economic policy we are going to have a very big problem," he said.

For now, Mexico is exporting its people. Zamorra said a recent study showed that more than half the municipalities in 10 Mexican states are seeing population losses.

Lazaro Cardenas, Governor of Michoacan, which has lost nearly half its population to emigration, also called for a change in direction. "In Mexico, we not only see the migrant who emigrates as a family provider but also as a pillar of support to the national economy," Cardenas said. "This is a road that goes nowhere — a mirage that has been used as an excuse for not assuming our responsibilities as a country regarding this massive exodus."

His statement was met with rousing applause.

Spanish television reports update on immigration reform in U.S. Senate

Telemundo (the Spanish television station) reported this week that Harry Reid, the U.S. Senate Majority Leader, will bring up for negotiation the Senate immigration bill from last year, since Senate Democrats and Republicans have not come up with an agreement on a new bill.

Note, the bill in question offers amnesty to many millions of illegal aliens living in the U.S. Last year, the bill was stopped by the House of Representatives. Also note, it is Telemundo, not the U.S. mainstream media (commonly referred to as MSM) which is apparently staying on top of this news.

Senators are expected to debate the bill on the Senate floor starting Monday. Telemundo also said that experts claim that if a deal is not made withing the next two weeks, the immigration debate will be dead.

The U.S. mainstream media may not think it's important enough to report, but we think this is a perfect time to contact your senators and representatives to let them know that you want them to oppose any bill that offers amnesty to illegal aliens.

Cartoon-style guidebook coaches illegals on raids

First a cartoon-style book helped them across the border, now there's another to help illegal aliens cope with raids. A Maryland-based immigrant-advocacy group is distributing the Guidebooks, which instruct those targeted by federal immigration agents during job-site raids not to cooperate if they are arrested or detained.

The eight-page, two-color illustrated book lists what rights "people who
are not United States citizens" have if detained by immigration agents,
details what to do if served with a warrant or charged with a crime, and
urges them to remain silent if they are arrested.

The book also says they should refuse to provide authorities with any
information about their immigration status. Included in the book is a "Know Your Rights" card to be cut out and presented to arresting agents, showing that those detained choose to exercise their "right to remain silent, the right to refuse to answer your questions" and to "refuse to sign anything until I consult with my
attorney."

The book, which features cartoon-like drawings of armed black and white
police officers escorting Hispanic men in handcuffs and shows babies crying
because their fathers are behind bars, is the product of CASA of Maryland
Inc., working with other organizations.

Tancredo promises an end to pro-illegal rallies

Though he's seen it before, Tom Tancredo was shocked “Imagine the gall - they sneak in here, wave their flags and demand benefits. 'Give us healthcare, give us welfare, school our children, and now, make us citizens!' We have all these people parading their illegal status in the street and instead of arresting them the news is putting them on television."

For the Presidential candidate, the pro-illegal rallies held May 1 were shocking, and not to be repeated. “The good news is that with your help we are going to put an end to all this. We have already started.”

Tancredo received some of the loudest applause from 1,000 Republican party loyalists in attendance at the annual Lincoln Day dinner as he railed against illegal immigrants. “We are destroying the concept of citizenship itself,” he said. “America, and indeed Western civilization, are in a crisis,” he added, “We are not going to quit.

“When it comes to immigration, Giuliani, McCain, Romney and Brownback are all peas of the same pod. They love to talk about their experience in public service -- they may have the competence to run the country but they certainly don't have the courage to defend it. It's just you and me, friends. It is our country, together we are going to take it back.”

Competition in fake ID business turns deadly

Chicago’s fake ID business has become “competitive and violent,” according to federal charges filed this week. One fake ID business in the area generates profits of $2 million to $3 million a year, but the business turned deadly for one of the organization members who apparently stole computer equipment and software to start their own fake ID business in Indiana.

Federal agents arrested Julio Leija-Sanchez, a leader of the Chicago business, for allegedly paying $3,000 and conspiring with others to kill two of the fledgling competitors known as “Montes” and “Bruno.” Another man allegedly executed Montes, shooting him 15 times in an effort to portray his murder as a robbery. Leija-Sanchez was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit murder outside the United States.

A dozen pages of an ICE affidavit detailed a series of telephone calls in which Leija-Sanchez discussed killing Montes and Bruno. The conversations were among numerous calls that agents intercepted pursuant to court-authorized wiretaps during the final months of the investigation which ICE began in late 2003, code-named Operation Paper Tiger.

Twenty-two defendants were charged with participating in a 3-year conspiracy to illegally produce identification documents, authentication features and false identification documents. Twelve of the defendants were arrested in Chicago. Ten others are fugitives, including four believed to be in Mexico.

Riot police step in to stop rock and bottle throwing at Los Angeles rally

Los Angeles riot police were called in to break up the May 1 immigration "rally" at MacArthur Park. The call for help went out once police saw several people throwing bottle and rocks at police officers. Numerous officers were deployed to the area at dusk.

The situation remained tense until the riot police had broken up the crowd by firing rubber bullets. The incident was caught on tape by several media organizations.

Police arrested several people suspected of instigating the rock and bottle throwing. throwing rock. Police used batons to push several people who had spilled into the street back onto the sidewalk. There were no reports of injuries.

Across the nation, the May 1 rallies drew far fewer supporters than they had a year ago.

Srengthening American family values? Not at this rate of illegitimacy

President Bush likes to say that family values don’t stop at the Rio Grande. Some have even argued that new immigrants instill the country with a stronger commitment to family values. Well, maybe when Mexicans illegally enter the U.S., they leave their familly values behind, because their behavior while they’re in the U.S. shows little respect for family values.

Steven A. Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies sees troubling signs for Hispanic immigrant families in the U.S. in their low education attainment and in their high rates of illegitimate births.

The rate of births to unmarried mothers is an apt indicator of family strength and family values, as children born to unmarried parents are at a disadvantage on a host of social problems, including poverty, incarceration, and academic problems.

Of Hispanic, Whites, Blacks and Asians, the Hispanic immigrant's percent of out-of-wedlock births is the largest at nearly 42%, higher than the nation's rate and higher than every other immigrant group. Hispanic immigrants far exceed the Asian immigrant's illegitimacy rate which is at 11%.

'Given that most illegals are less-educated and Hispanic, and given the high rates of out-of-wedlock births among less-educated Hispanics…an amnesty rather than an enforcement approach could contribute greatly to the illegitimacy problem in this country,' opined Dr. Camarota. Sending illegal aliens home and selecting legal immigrants in the future based more on education levels would significantly reduce illegitimacy among immigrant populations in the future, says Dr. Camarota.

U.S. housing slump is putting the squeeze on Mexico

Money being sent as remittances to Mexico is slowing with the U.S. housing market and its wages for construction workers. Twenty percent of Mexicans living in the U.S. work in the construction industry.

Economists are concerned, as remittances have become the financial lifeblood for millions of Mexican families and a crucial source of foreign exchange for their government. Maids, cooks, gardeners and others sent home $23 billion in 2006, more than multinational corporations invested in Mexico.

The deceleration in remittances is coming just as Mexico's economy is weakening, oil revenue is falling and unemployment is on the rise. Tougher border enforcement and workplace crackdowns by U.S. immigration authorities may also be playing a role in the remittance slowdown.

Nearly three million Latinos were employed in the U.S. housing industry in 2006. Within the construction business, lower-skilled immigrants are more prevalent in the residential sector, which has lost nearly 28,000 jobs since September. But the slowdown is actually much worse, because the activities of off-the-books day laborers aren't reflected in official statistics.

Money-transfer companies are also feeling the pinch. Western Union reported that wire transactions to Mexico increased just 2% in the first quarter compared with the first three months of 2006. Minnesota-based MoneyGram spokeswoman Cathy Rebuffoni acknowledged 'a slowdown in that market' largely because of sluggish U.S. construction activity, but both firms mentioned heightened tensions over illegal immigration as a factor cutting into sales.