Backroom Negotiations in House May Bring Comprehensive Immigration Reform "Lite" to the Floor! Call Your Representatives NOW!!!!!

Backroom Negotiations in House May Bring Comprehensive Immigration Reform "Lite" to the Floor! Call Your Representatives NOW!!!!!

February 14, 2008 – 0948 PST (APR)

Capitol Hill news sources have been buzzing for the past 48 hours about backroom negotiations in the House of Representatives that may bring comprehensive immigration reform "lite" to the floor. Congressional Quarterly reports that Congressman Joe Baca (D-CA), Chairman of the Hispanic Caucus, is leading the fight for legislation that would provide a five-year amnesty visa to illegal aliens currently in the U.S.  Baca said the five-year amnesty visas would be available to illegal aliens who can "prove they have a job, pay taxes and pass a criminal background check." (Congressional Quarterly Today, February 13, 2008) The negotiations for the five-year amnesty visas are already taking place at the highest levels of House leadership. They include Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Immigration Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoë Lofgren (D-CA) and are reportedly bipartisan in nature. Speaker Pelosi, however, denies there has been any firm decision to move forward. (Id.)Not surprisingly, jumping on the visa bandwagon are business interests that have been attempting for months to secure an increase in H-2B visas—visas for unskilled workers.  These business interests have made repeated, but failed attempts since the demise of the 2007 Bush-Kennedy amnesty bill to increase the number of H-2B visas so employers could import more cheap foreign labor. Now they are at it again and Congress seems willing to listen, even during a period of economic downturn in the U.S.! Congressman Xavier Becerra (D-CA), assistant to Speaker Pelosi, confirmed that Leadership was attempting to find some "relief" for employers who cannot get enough foreign labor due to the caps set forth by law. (Congress Daily, February 13, 2008) Commenting on these negotiations, the senior manager for immigration policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said, "I think there is some type of deal in the works." (Congressional Quarterly Today, February 13, 2008)  Please call your Representatives NOW and tell them you want them to reject this plan to reward special interests. Insist that instead of working on comprehensive immigration reform "lite" they get to work on serious enforcement legislation. Tell them you oppose all forms of amnesty and oppose allowing big business to import even more cheap foreign workers so they can increase their profits at the expense of U.S. workers and wages!!!To find the phone number of your Representative, click here. Stay tuned to FAIR for more updates on these negotiations…

There are faxes on numbersusa.com that are addressing this issue.  Please send them and contact your representatives as well through calls, emails and faxes.

I have already contacted my representatives in AZ, and though I am not from Colorado, I sent an email to Tom Tancredo. 

Thank you for the post CJBL. 

Done, yesterday and today!

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Thanks, speakengl. 

Here is the basic fax/letter posted on numberusa.com that some of us have already sent.  Use it to fax or email on your own if you don't want to go through numbersusa.com.

 

Dear Representative__________:

House leadership is conducting behind-the-scenes discussions about a special visa for illegal aliens which will give millions of illegal aliens amnesty for 5 years. Please tell me that you will oppose any rewards for illegal immigration.


There is already a bi-partisan effort to solve our illegal immigration crisis. The SAVE Act will punish employers and create incentives for illegal aliens to leave. Why would House leadership fight the SAVE Act with a plan to encourage illegal aliens to stay?

Illegal aliens who leave their jobs and return to their home countries (voluntarily or otherwise) have been replaced by Americans - usually for better wages. Giving visas to illegal aliens will only encourage more illegal immigration and deprive law-abiding Americans and legal immigrants of opportunities.

Nothing about this 5 year amnesty makes sense. Please oppose this plan and throw your support to the SAVE Act.

Looking forward to your support,

 

 

Legislative Update

March 17, 2008

Discharge Petition Filed for SAVE Act

Tuesday, Congresswoman Thelma Drake (R-VA) filed a discharge petition to force a floor vote in the House of Representatives on the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement Act (SAVE Act, H.R.
4088). (The Politico, March 12, 2008) The decision came after days of
discussions among House Minority Leaders, who were searching for ways to pressure the Majority to take up the issue of immigration reform. A discharge petition allows rank-and-file members of the House to force
floor consideration of a bill when leadership will not allow it to
move forward through the normal committee process. For a discharge
petition to work, supporters must get 218 Representatives to sign the
petition, which forces the bill directly to the floor. Since the
discharge petition was filed Tuesday, 181 members have signed it,
leaving only 37 signatures needed. (To see the current signature
tally, go to:) http://www.fairus.org/site/R?i=QWLlYFlA0UctZsJtgToqNQ..

The SAVE Act is a bi-partisan piece of legislation that enjoys
widespread support. At present, 146 members have signed on as
co-sponsors, 97 Republicans and 49 Democrats. According to its two
chief proponents, Congressmen Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Brian Bilbray
(R-CA), "The SAVE Act provides a three-pronged approach to curb
illegal immigration: enhanced border security, employment verification
and dramatically increased enforcement of our nation's existing laws."
(Washington Times, March 14, 2008) Among other things, the SAVE Act
would:

*  add technology, infrastructure and personnel at the border;
*  offer grants to border towns and counties to assist with
enforcement of criminal law;
*  bolster the alien smuggling and harboring provisions of INA
§274;
*  increase the number of federal judges in border states, allowing
for more and better enforcement of criminal immigration and
trafficking laws;

One of the most important provisions in the SAVE Act, however, is the
bill's mandate that all employers use the E-Verify electronic
employment verification system to check the legal status of their
employees. Mandatory use of the E-Verify system would help eliminate
the employment magnet that attracts many illegal immigrants into the
U.S. (For more on the SAVE Act, go to:)
http://www.fairus.org/site/R?i=hRpD5icsgcP0EY8-J8VmoQ..

While proponents of the SAVE Act have been actively working to
bring the bill to the floor, its opponents have been trying to craft a
deal that would weaken its enforcement provisions and give amnesty to
the 12 to 14 million illegal aliens currently in the U.S. On Tuesday,
Bart Stupak (D-MI) held a series of meetings with Congressman Shuler,
Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL) and various
pro-amnesty members in hopes of brokering a compromise plan. (The
Politico, March 12, 2008) According to Representative Joe Baca,
Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the compromise would incorporate "some" of the enforcement language in the SAVE Act, raise the number of H-2B workers by reinstating the returning worker
exemption, and grant five-year amnesty visas to the 12-14 million
illegal aliens currently in the U.S. (Roll Call, March 12, 2008)

However, efforts by the Majority Leadership to broker a comprehensive
immigration reform package appear to be at an impasse. A source close
to the talks indicates that Majority Leadership is hesitant to put
forward any immigration package lacking the imprimatur of Shuler.
However, to date, Shuler has refused to accept any package that
contains amnesty for illegal aliens. Meanwhile, the absence of amnesty
language appears to be a deal-breaker for members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. (National Review Online, March 14, 2008)

Stay tuned to FAIR for more updates on the SAVE Act...

Bill Gates Asks Congress to Increase in Visas for High-Tech Foreign
Workers

On Wednesday, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates testified before the House
Committee on Science and Technology, where he pushed Congress to
revamp immigration laws affecting highly skilled workers. Mr. Gates
made his pitch for importing more high-tech H-1B workers by painting a
gloomy scene of how current immigration law impedes the hiring and
retention of highly-skilled science, technology, engineering and
mathematics graduates. According to Gates, the country faces a
shortage of scientists and engineers that cannot be remedied through
reform of the education system alone. Instead, he argued, the U.S.
needs to import foreign guest workers in order to bolster the
education pool of scientific and high technology sectors. For Gates,
steps that would improve the situation include increasing the time
that foreign students can work in the country after finishing their
education in the U.S.; creating "a streamlined path to permanent
resident status for highly skilled workers;" and raising both the
worldwide and per-country caps on employment-based visas. (Written
Testimony of William H. Gates, March 12, 2008) Many of these
provisions were in the so-called "SKIL" Bill, which was part of the
Bush-Kennedy Amnesty legislation that failed last summer.

Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), however, was not swayed by
Gates's argument. According to Rohrabacher, increasing the number of
visas to foreign workers would drive down wages to the detriment of
citizens. "Just to be frank, I think some of the things you are
suggesting are not going to the fundamentals." (The Politico, March
12, 2008)

House Subcommittee Approves Series of Small Immigration Bills

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration,
Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law approved
a series of immigration bills and sent them to full committee. The
Subcommittee approved the following bills:

*  H.R. 5060, which permits foreign professional athletes to apply
for an extension of their visas every five years, rather than
requiring them to attain permanent residence after 10 years;
*  H.R. 5069, which extends a pilot program that grants visas to
investors who can establish the creation of at least 10 U.S.
jobs per annum;
*  H.R. 5070, which extends the soon-to-expire R-1 religious worker
visa program for an additional 7 years; and
*  H.R. 5071, which extends visa waivers for foreign medical
graduates until June 2013.

The legislation to extend the R-1 religious worker visa program
received the most scrutiny in the subcommittee hearing. The R-1 visa
program was established Immigration Act of 1990 (PL 101-649), but
claims of fraud and abuse have plagued the program for years. In 1999,
the General Accounting Office voiced concern over evidence of fraud in
the R-1 foreign religious worker visa program. (Visa Issuance: Issues
Concerning the Religious Worker Visa Program, GAO/NSIAD-99-67
http://www.fairus.org/site/R?i=YyT7N451Ih9xF6K9gqqfVQ.. , March 26, 1999) And in 2006, an audit conducted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office of Fraud Detection and National Security discovered that 33 percent of R-1 religious worker visas were fraudulently obtained. (Religious Worker Benefit Fraud Assessment Summary, July 2006)
http://www.fairus.org/site/R?i=6Iqmzp64IJ01ZaMItqlHsw..

As introduced, H.R. 5070 would have made the program permanent.
However, concerns about fraud in the program led Chairwoman Zoe
Lofgren to agree to an amendment that extends the program for seven
years. The amendment also required USCIS to introduce guidelines for
the reduction of fraud. If those guidelines are satisfactorily
implemented by December 31, 2009, the program will automatically be
extended for an additional year, through 2016. The bill was approved
by the Immigration Subcommittee by a vote of 8-1. (Congressional
Quarterly, March 12, 2008) The next stop for these bills will be a
hearing before the full House Judiciary Committee.

Senate Passes Budget Resolution with Immigration Provisions

On Friday, the Senate adopted a concurrent budget resolution for
fiscal year 2009 that contained several important immigration
provisions. (S. Con. Res. 70) The resolution, which is non-binding,
reflects the Senate's spending goals for the fiscal year and guides
how much money is available for the numerous appropriations bills
Congress passes each year. During debate, Senators Lamar Alexander
(R-TN), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and David Vitter (R-LA) saw the
opportunity to further certain immigration policy initiatives by
offering targeted amendments. Two of these passed and one was tabled.

The Alexander amendment (S.A. 4222) takes $670,000 that was allocated to support litigation against employers with English-only workplace policies and transfers it to fund adult English literacy programs. The amendment passed on a 54-44 vote. (Record Vote No. 58) The Sessions amendment (S.A. 4231), which was adopted 61-37, directs appropriators to fund "border security, immigration enforcement, and criminal alien removal programs." (Record Vote No. 60) The amendment also requires that certain activities receive funding. These include:

*  Expanding Operation Streamline, under which all illegal crossers
into the U.S. are prosecuted, to all 20 border sectors;
*  Requiring Homeland Security to complete the 700 miles of
pedestrian fencing required by the Secure Fence Act;
*  Maintaining 6,000 National Guard members along the southern
border of the United States;
*  Evaluating the 27 percent of the Federal, State, and local
prison populations who are noncitizens in order to identify
removable criminal aliens;
*  Entering into Memoranda of Understanding with state and local
governments to permit their officers to perform immigration
enforcement functions under the 287(g) program; and
*  Implementing the exit portion of the US-VISIT program at
airports, seaports, and land ports of entry.

The Vitter amendment would have required that appropriations
legislation deny community policing funds to any city that maintains a
sanctuary policy. (S.A. 4309) Unfortunately, the amendment was tabled
on a 58-40 vote. (Record Vote No. 69) In its place, an amendment by
Senator Reid (D-NV) was offered and passed on a voice vote that
requested appropriations for a study of the effects of sanctuary city
policies on crime, racial profiling and unlawful detentions of
citizens. (S.A. 4373)

Recent Floor Statements

*  Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) commented on Save Act (March 14,
2008)

http://www.fairus.org/site/R?i=PJHycsl8_w7dxD6ByOGZEw..

*  Rep. Thelma Drake (R-VA) commented on The Save Act (March 14,
2008)

http://www.fairus.org/site/R?i=cjJAKn1mgd8AMrhxsAB5Kw..

*  Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) commented on Local Law Enforcement Is Vital
To Homeland Security Efforts (March 13, 2008)

http://www.fairus.org/site/R?i=QAMuaGfku7z9i5viUovuYA..

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I did - here is the answer I got from Burgess (R) TX. we need more like him!

Thank you for contacting me regarding H-1B non-immigrant visas. I appreciate hearing from you on this important matter.

H-1B visas are visas that are available to non-immigrant skilled workers. Several H-1B visa holders enter the United States to find work within high-tech sectors of the economy. However, with the downturn in the economy, and especially in the high-tech sector, the use of these foreign workers as opposed to American workers has been called this program into question. I am concerned that the use of foreign high-tech workers suppresses the development of American science and technology programs in our high schools, colleges, and universities.

I am firmly committed to developing a domestic science and technology workforce that is the envy of the world. In order to do this, the federal government and state governments must work with academic institutions and businesses to foster an environment that will increase the number of science and technology students graduating from American colleges and universities.

I am also a member of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus. I look forward to working with my colleagues within the Caucus on common sense approaches to U.S. immigration policy. Additionally, I will work to create an immigration policy that focuses on reducing illegal immigration and places tighter controls on legal immigration. In these uncertain times, we can ill-afford to stand idly by as illegal immigrants continue to stream into this country.

If you have any questions or complaints about how a particular company hires H-1B visa holders, please contact the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. The Wage and Hour Division can be reached at 1-866-4-USA-DOL or in writing at U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20210.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate having the opportunity to represent you in the U.S. House of Representatives. Please feel free to visit my website (www.house.gov/burgess) or contact me with any future concerns.

Sincerely,

Michael C. Burgess, M.D.
Member of Congress

FR,  Too bad this man's common sense hasn't rubbed off on the other representatives and senators.

 

So, exactly what does the following mean:

 

  H.R.4088
Title: To provide immigration reform by securing America's borders, clarifying and enforcing existing laws, and enabling a practical employer verification program.

Sponsor: Rep Shuler, Heath [NC-11] (introduced 11/6/2007) Cosponsors (151)

Related Bills: S.2366, S.2368

Latest Major Action: 3/11/2008 Motion to Discharge Committee filed by Mrs. Drake. Petition No: 110-5.

Note: On 3/11/2008, a motion was filed to discharge the Committees on Homeland Security, Judiciary, Ways and Means, Education and Labor, Oversight and Government Reform, Armed Services, Agriculture, and Natural Resources from consideration of H.R 4088. A discharge petition requires 218 signatures for further action. (Discharge Petition No. 110-5: text with signatures.)

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