Dear Friend of Border Control:

Just a brief note to thank you for all your hard work. There is no question in my mind that, without your phone calls, faxes and email letters, the outcome of today's vote would have been quite different.

You deserve a rest. We all do. But we have momentum on our side and this is one of those windows of opportunity that we should not pass up.

Now that the Bush-Kennedy-McCain amnesty is dead and the open borders crowd is in total disarray, we must press ahead to pass the The Secure Borders FIRST Act of 2007, sponsored by Congressmen Peter King and Lamar Smith because the current status quo is unacceptable.

We need to regain control of our borders and ramp up enforcement. This bill does it by:

• Requiring mandatory detention for all illegal immigrants apprehended along the border;
  
• Expedited removal for any illegal aliens apprehended within 100 miles of the border;
  
• Deploying at least 18,000 more border patrol agents by Dec. 31, 2008;
  
• Funding and reaffirming the authority of state and local police to apprehend and detain illegal aliens;
  
• Mandating the use of electronic employment eligibility verification system (formerly voluntary);
  
• Eliminating loopholes in current law that allows illegal immigrants to receive Social Security benefits from their illegal work, if they are later legalized;
  
• Banning the use of Matricula Consular cards, identification cards issued to illegal aliens by Mexican consulates to enable them to open bank accounts, buy homes and obtain other forms of identification;
  
• Making English the official language of the United States;
  
• Mandating the full implementation of US-VISIT, the visa entry-exit system intended to track visa overstayers – a critical system to protect us from terrorism; and
  
• Punishing employers who hire illegal aliens.

As you can see, this is a powerful alternative to the Bush-Kennedy-McCain amnesty.

In a few days, I'll send you some of the tools necessary to start building support for the King-Smith bill as well as other great House enforcement bills offered by real immigration reformers like Elton Gallegly, Tom Tancredo, Virgil Goode, Walter Jones and others.

But for now, I hope you will enjoy your Fourth of July with a renewed appreciation of the fact of what it means to be an American and that we, the people, once aroused, can reclaim our government and bring to heel those elected officials who forget that, at the end of the day, they are answerable to us.

Best Regards,

Edward I. Nelson, Chairman
U.S. Border Control
8180 Greensboro Drive #1070
Mclean, VA 22102
ednelson@usbc.org
703-356-6567
www.usbc.org