<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=940 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD align=left><TABLE id=topTools cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Ariz. law prohibiting illegal immigrant hires upheld</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!--startclickprintexclude--><TABLE height=25 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=datestamp>Updated<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>document.write(niceDate('2/8/2008 12:51 AM'));</SCRIPT> 17h 17m ago | Comments51 | Recommend10</TD><TD align=right><!-- EdSysObj ID="SSI-B" FRAGMENTID="13417811" rberthol -->E-mail | Save | Print |<SCRIPT type=text/javascript><!--var tempshowReprintSSI = "";if(window.showReprintSSI){tempshowReprintSSI = showReprintSSI;} if ((navigator.os.indexOf("Mac")==1) && (navigator.type==2)) { // macIE if((document.forms.hiddenValForm.hiddenMacPrintValue.value == "0") || (document.forms.hiddenValForm.hiddenMacPrintValue.value=="2")) { if(document.forms.hiddenValForm.hiddenMacPrintValue.value == "2"){ document.forms.hiddenValForm.hiddenMacPrintValue.value = "0"; } else{ document.forms.hiddenValForm.hiddenMacPrintValue.value = "1"; } if(tempshowReprintSSI == 'showReprintSSI'){ writeReprintLink(); } writeSubscribeToLink(); } else { document.forms.hiddenValForm.hiddenMacPrintValue.value = "2"; } } else {// non macIE - write top and bottom if(tempshowReprintSSI == 'showReprintSSI'){ writeReprintLink(); } writeSubscribeToLink(); } function writeReprintLink(){ document.write('Reprints & Permissions | '); } function writeSubscribeToLink(){ var url = document.location.toString(); var urlArray = url.split("/") var nurl = ""; for (i = 3; i < urlArray.length - 1; i++) { if(i<urlArray.length-2){ nurl += urlArray + "|"; } else { nurl += urlArray; } } document.write('
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<!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- /EdSysObj -->By Paul Davenport And Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press Writers
PHOENIX — A federal judge on Thursday upheld an Arizona law that prohibits businesses from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and yanks the business licenses of those that do.
U.S. District Judge Neil Wake dismissed a lawsuit filed by business groups that argued that federal immigration law severely restricts Arizona's ability to punish people who knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
The law won approval last year from the Republican-majority Legislature and Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano amid frustration over what they said were inadequate federal efforts to confront illegal immigration. Many cities across the country have passed similar measures, though some have been rejected in court.
Business groups including the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry argue the Arizona law unconstitutionally infringes on federal immigration powers. Wake, however, concluded that there is no conflict with federal immigration law, which he said specifically lets states regulate business licensing.
"Preservation of that state power was itself part of Congress' careful balancing of policy objectives," Wake wrote.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Arizona | Legislature | Judge | Wake
Wake also ruled that the law gives sufficient due-process protections to businesses.
The business groups challenging the law said they will appeal Wake's ruling to the San Franscisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"We look forward to this next phase and remain optimistic that our case is strong and will ultimately prevail," the challengers said in a statement.
They said their appeal will include a request for an emergency order blocking enforcement of the law. It took effect Jan. 1 but prosecutors have told Wake they wouldn't take any complaints to court until March 1, allowing time for an appeal.
Wake's ruling did not settle whether the law applies to all workers, or only those hired after it took effect in January. The judge noted that the law's reach has been debated, with lawmakers disagreeing on what was intended, and said that issue would have to be settled in a future case.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, whose office is defending the law in court, called Wake's ruling a "thoughtful review."
Businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants could face a business license suspension lasting up to 10 days under the new law. Second-time violators would have their business licenses permanently revoked. The law also requires businesses to use an otherwise voluntary federal database to verify the employment eligibility of new workers.
The law is intended to weaken the economic incentive for immigrants to sneak across the border and lessen Arizona's role as the busiest illegal gateway into the country. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that illegal immigrants account for one in 10 workers in the Arizona economy.
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said the law is "a good-faith effort to deal with the immigration crisis by focusing on those relatively few employers who intentionally or knowingly hire illegal immigrants."
Earlier rulings on similar measures have been mixed. In July, a federal judge struck down a Hazleton, Pa., ordinance that would deny business permits for companies that employ illegal immigrants, but another judge upheld a similar measure in Valley Park, Mo., last week.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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<!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- /EdSysObj -->By Paul Davenport And Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press Writers
PHOENIX — A federal judge on Thursday upheld an Arizona law that prohibits businesses from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and yanks the business licenses of those that do.
U.S. District Judge Neil Wake dismissed a lawsuit filed by business groups that argued that federal immigration law severely restricts Arizona's ability to punish people who knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
The law won approval last year from the Republican-majority Legislature and Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano amid frustration over what they said were inadequate federal efforts to confront illegal immigration. Many cities across the country have passed similar measures, though some have been rejected in court.
Business groups including the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry argue the Arizona law unconstitutionally infringes on federal immigration powers. Wake, however, concluded that there is no conflict with federal immigration law, which he said specifically lets states regulate business licensing.
"Preservation of that state power was itself part of Congress' careful balancing of policy objectives," Wake wrote.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Arizona | Legislature | Judge | Wake
Wake also ruled that the law gives sufficient due-process protections to businesses.
The business groups challenging the law said they will appeal Wake's ruling to the San Franscisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"We look forward to this next phase and remain optimistic that our case is strong and will ultimately prevail," the challengers said in a statement.
They said their appeal will include a request for an emergency order blocking enforcement of the law. It took effect Jan. 1 but prosecutors have told Wake they wouldn't take any complaints to court until March 1, allowing time for an appeal.
Wake's ruling did not settle whether the law applies to all workers, or only those hired after it took effect in January. The judge noted that the law's reach has been debated, with lawmakers disagreeing on what was intended, and said that issue would have to be settled in a future case.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, whose office is defending the law in court, called Wake's ruling a "thoughtful review."
Businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants could face a business license suspension lasting up to 10 days under the new law. Second-time violators would have their business licenses permanently revoked. The law also requires businesses to use an otherwise voluntary federal database to verify the employment eligibility of new workers.
The law is intended to weaken the economic incentive for immigrants to sneak across the border and lessen Arizona's role as the busiest illegal gateway into the country. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that illegal immigrants account for one in 10 workers in the Arizona economy.
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said the law is "a good-faith effort to deal with the immigration crisis by focusing on those relatively few employers who intentionally or knowingly hire illegal immigrants."
Earlier rulings on similar measures have been mixed. In July, a federal judge struck down a Hazleton, Pa., ordinance that would deny business permits for companies that employ illegal immigrants, but another judge upheld a similar measure in Valley Park, Mo., last week.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Press Releases › Ron Paul Signs ‘Numbers USA’ Pledge to Oppose Amnesty and Secure America’s Borders
February 4, 2008 9:28 pm EST
February 4, 2008
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – Today, Republican presidential candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul signed the Numbers USA pledge. The pledge reaffirms Congressman Paul’s longstanding opposition to amnesty and support for securing the borders.
Dr. Paul has introduced a six-point plan to deal with the current illegal immigration problem. On the subject, he has said: “The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all.”
Congressman Paul has received the endorsements of many groups and leaders that oppose illegal immigration. A list of such endorsements can be found at: www.ronpaul2008.com/endorsements
Below is the Numbers USA pledge:
I pledge to oppose amnesty or any other special path to citizenship for the millions of foreign nationals unlawfully present in the United States. As President, I will fully implement enforcement measures that, over time, will lead to the attrition of our illegal immigrant population. I also pledge to make security of our borders a top priority of my administration.
Numbers USA includes six points of understanding as to what the pledge means and what it entails:
1. The 12 million illegal aliens now here will have to go home.
2. They will not get any legal status while here that allows them to remain long-term.
3. Once in their home countries, they may apply for re-admittance to the U.S. as immigrants, visitors or temporary workers through normal channels.
4. But they will not receive any special privileges on the basis of their having been in the U.S. illegally, such as being put to the front of a line.
5. There will be no new categories or programs through which they may re-enter.
6. There will not be an expansion of green cards in any existing categories that will speed up their movement to the front of the line.
February 4, 2008 9:28 pm EST
Ron Paul Signs ‘Numbers USA’ Pledge to Oppose Amnesty and Secure America’s
Borders
“The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Borders
“The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all.”
February 4, 2008
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – Today, Republican presidential candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul signed the Numbers USA pledge. The pledge reaffirms Congressman Paul’s longstanding opposition to amnesty and support for securing the borders.
Dr. Paul has introduced a six-point plan to deal with the current illegal immigration problem. On the subject, he has said: “The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all.”
Congressman Paul has received the endorsements of many groups and leaders that oppose illegal immigration. A list of such endorsements can be found at: www.ronpaul2008.com/endorsements
Below is the Numbers USA pledge:
I pledge to oppose amnesty or any other special path to citizenship for the millions of foreign nationals unlawfully present in the United States. As President, I will fully implement enforcement measures that, over time, will lead to the attrition of our illegal immigrant population. I also pledge to make security of our borders a top priority of my administration.
Numbers USA includes six points of understanding as to what the pledge means and what it entails:
1. The 12 million illegal aliens now here will have to go home.
2. They will not get any legal status while here that allows them to remain long-term.
3. Once in their home countries, they may apply for re-admittance to the U.S. as immigrants, visitors or temporary workers through normal channels.
4. But they will not receive any special privileges on the basis of their having been in the U.S. illegally, such as being put to the front of a line.
5. There will be no new categories or programs through which they may re-enter.
6. There will not be an expansion of green cards in any existing categories that will speed up their movement to the front of the line.
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<TABLE class=media-innerbuffer cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=markerTEXTblueMAJOR colSpan=3>Bumpy ride in court for trucking program </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXTred colSpan=3>COPLEY NEWS SERVICE : February 13 , 2008 -- by Paul M. Krawzak </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=3> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=markerTEXTblueMINOR vAlign=top height="100%">"Opponents argued the administration is violating the law by ignoring legislation passed by Congress to end the program." </TD><TD width="2%"> </TD><TD vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Opponents of a Bush administration program that allows Mexican trucks to drive throughout the United States called the program a "sham" yesterday as they urged a federal appeals court to shut it down.
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Jonathan Weissglass, an attorney for the Teamsters Union and other groups opposed to the five-month-old project designed to test Mexican trucks on U.S. highways, said the program lacks enough participants for a statistically valid sample, as required by Congress.
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>The program, scheduled to run through September, was designed to have up to 100 Mexican carriers participating. At present, 12 Mexican carriers fielding 42 trucks have been authorized to participate after passing U.S. inspections.</STRONG> </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>The program also allows an equivalent number of U.S. carriers to travel throughout Mexico for the first time. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Groups opposed to the program traded legal jabs with the U.S. Department of Transportation before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Opponents say the Bush administration has ignored safety standards imposed on the program by Congress, as well as a law passed by Congress in December to end the pilot program altogether. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>The administration says the program is legal and safe. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Weissglass, who also represents the Sierra Club and Public Citizen in the lawsuit, urged the three-judge panel hearing the case to issue an immediate injunction to halt the program. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>"And, at the least, there should be an injunction before the end of the year is up and they (federal officials) go ahead and decide to open the border based on the flawed pilot program," he said. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>The administration hopes the program proves successful enough that the border with Mexico can be opened to wider commercial truck traffic, as required by the North American Free Trade Agreement. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Opponents argued the administration is violating the law by ignoring legislation passed by Congress to end the program. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>The administration contends the wording in the law, which bars establishing a pilot program, is too narrow to end an existing program. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Judge Dorothy W. Nelson asked for an explanation. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>"Isn't the congressional intent behind (the law) unambiguous?" she asked, according to an official court recording of the hearing. "If you look at the legislative history, including remarks by both proponents and opponents of the program, clearly it indicates in the record that the intention was to halt the pilot program." </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Irene Solet, an attorney representing the Department of Transportation, said the administration's interpretation of the law is backed up by two other provisions in the same legislation. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>The provision aimed at ending the program only prohibits using federal funds to "establish" a program, she said. But in the same legislation, she added, Congress used broader language to shut off funding to two unrelated programs. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Weissglass argued that "establish" is a broad term. "It includes both the one-time act of initiating the pilot program as well as continuing the pilot program," he said. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Paul Cullen Sr., an attorney for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which opposes the program, told the court that the Bush administration violated the law by not requiring Mexican carriers to comply with every U.S. trucking regulation. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>For instance, he said U.S. transportation officials allow Mexican truck drivers to use Mexican commercial driver licenses in lieu of the U.S. equivalent. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>While U.S. truck drivers can lose their licenses if they are convicted of drunken driving at any time, Mexican truck drivers are not penalized for violations that occur when they are off duty. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Solet responded that some Mexican standards, such as those requiring medical examinations in order to drive, are viewed as equivalent to U.S. standards. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>"The medical examination required for commercial drivers in Mexico is the same medical examination as required for airline pilots," she said. "If a medical examination is sufficiently comprehensive and thorough to qualify a pilot for a commercial airline, that is the kind of examination that they will accept as comparable." </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Source: http://numbersusa.com/actionbuffet
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Jonathan Weissglass, an attorney for the Teamsters Union and other groups opposed to the five-month-old project designed to test Mexican trucks on U.S. highways, said the program lacks enough participants for a statistically valid sample, as required by Congress.
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>The program, scheduled to run through September, was designed to have up to 100 Mexican carriers participating. At present, 12 Mexican carriers fielding 42 trucks have been authorized to participate after passing U.S. inspections.</STRONG> </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>The program also allows an equivalent number of U.S. carriers to travel throughout Mexico for the first time. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Groups opposed to the program traded legal jabs with the U.S. Department of Transportation before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Opponents say the Bush administration has ignored safety standards imposed on the program by Congress, as well as a law passed by Congress in December to end the pilot program altogether. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>The administration says the program is legal and safe. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Weissglass, who also represents the Sierra Club and Public Citizen in the lawsuit, urged the three-judge panel hearing the case to issue an immediate injunction to halt the program. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>"And, at the least, there should be an injunction before the end of the year is up and they (federal officials) go ahead and decide to open the border based on the flawed pilot program," he said. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>The administration hopes the program proves successful enough that the border with Mexico can be opened to wider commercial truck traffic, as required by the North American Free Trade Agreement. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Opponents argued the administration is violating the law by ignoring legislation passed by Congress to end the program. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>The administration contends the wording in the law, which bars establishing a pilot program, is too narrow to end an existing program. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Judge Dorothy W. Nelson asked for an explanation. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>"Isn't the congressional intent behind (the law) unambiguous?" she asked, according to an official court recording of the hearing. "If you look at the legislative history, including remarks by both proponents and opponents of the program, clearly it indicates in the record that the intention was to halt the pilot program." </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Irene Solet, an attorney representing the Department of Transportation, said the administration's interpretation of the law is backed up by two other provisions in the same legislation. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>The provision aimed at ending the program only prohibits using federal funds to "establish" a program, she said. But in the same legislation, she added, Congress used broader language to shut off funding to two unrelated programs. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Weissglass argued that "establish" is a broad term. "It includes both the one-time act of initiating the pilot program as well as continuing the pilot program," he said. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Paul Cullen Sr., an attorney for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which opposes the program, told the court that the Bush administration violated the law by not requiring Mexican carriers to comply with every U.S. trucking regulation. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>For instance, he said U.S. transportation officials allow Mexican truck drivers to use Mexican commercial driver licenses in lieu of the U.S. equivalent. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>While U.S. truck drivers can lose their licenses if they are convicted of drunken driving at any time, Mexican truck drivers are not penalized for violations that occur when they are off duty. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>Solet responded that some Mexican standards, such as those requiring medical examinations in order to drive, are viewed as equivalent to U.S. standards. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=discussionTEXT colSpan=2>"The medical examination required for commercial drivers in Mexico is the same medical examination as required for airline pilots," she said. "If a medical examination is sufficiently comprehensive and thorough to qualify a pilot for a commercial airline, that is the kind of examination that they will accept as comparable." </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Source: http://numbersusa.com/actionbuffet
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+2]Emergency Amnesty Crisis! [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+2]House Hispanic Caucus Pushing
New Illegal Alien Amnesty![/SIZE][/FONT]
<TABLE height=50 width=650><TBODY><TR><TD width="27.5%"></TD><TD borderColor=#cc0000 align=middle width="42%" bgColor=#ff0000>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+2]Press Here To Donate [/SIZE][/FONT]</TD><TD width="27.5%"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>New Illegal Alien Amnesty![/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Dear NumbersUSA Faxer,
Our opposition didn't wait long to strike again. We knocked down Amnesty bill after Amnesty bill last year. But with the recent success of pro-amnesty Presidential candidates they are emboldened to try again.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The powerful Hispanic Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives appears to be convincing the House Democratic leadership to go along with their deceptive new Amnesty measure.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Under this bill:[/FONT]
Our opposition didn't wait long to strike again. We knocked down Amnesty bill after Amnesty bill last year. But with the recent success of pro-amnesty Presidential candidates they are emboldened to try again.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The powerful Hispanic Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives appears to be convincing the House Democratic leadership to go along with their deceptive new Amnesty measure.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Under this bill:[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1) Millions of Illegal Aliens would qualify for "five-year" amnesties.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2) Crooked employers who have knowingly hired Illegal Aliens would be given complete immunity from prosecution.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]3) The purpose of this new Amnesty is to FOOL the American Voter into believing this is a temporary measure. In fact, the intention of this Amnesty is to make Illegal Aliens undeportable until what they believe will be the second term of a pro-amnesty President. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2) Crooked employers who have knowingly hired Illegal Aliens would be given complete immunity from prosecution.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]3) The purpose of this new Amnesty is to FOOL the American Voter into believing this is a temporary measure. In fact, the intention of this Amnesty is to make Illegal Aliens undeportable until what they believe will be the second term of a pro-amnesty President. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In the face of this stunning threat, we are taking the gloves off! Hundreds of thousands of faxes will be sent. Thousands of phone calls. Ads up everywhere. Intense lobbying efforts. We must NOT lose this battle, or a terrible trend will begin.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+2]But We Need Your Contributions To Defeat this 'Five-Year' Amnesty[/SIZE][/FONT]
<TABLE height=50 width=650><TBODY><TR><TD width="27.5%"></TD><TD borderColor=#cc0000 align=middle width="42%" bgColor=#ff0000>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+2]Press Here To Donate [/SIZE][/FONT]</TD><TD width="27.5%"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+2]But We Need Your Contributions To Defeat this 'Five-Year' Amnesty[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Your previous donations helped us achieve a world of success including:[/FONT]
- [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The defeat of 54 amnesty proposals since 2001. NONE has passed.[/FONT]
- [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Sources like The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times gave NumbersUSA chief credit in defeating the total Amnesty bill in the Senate last summer.[/FONT]
- [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Increased our advocacy network by more than 320,000 people to 570,000 strong.[/FONT]
- [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Sending 7 million faxes to Congress and upgraded our technology to send even more.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]But we cannot fight this battle alone. As you probably know, our operation depends on having at least 1% of our membership donating each month. Otherwise we must begin retreating from the battle. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In the past two months we have NOT gotten close to the minimum. Perhaps there has been an assumption that the danger of Illegal Alien Amnesties had passed. As you can see, if we fall asleep at the wheel, disaster will strike.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Open Borders lobby is extremely well-funded by countless wealthy foundations and corporations with deep pockets. We won’t be able to counter their influence or continue our current high degree of operations unless we continue to reach our financial goals each month. And some of you have already realized this:[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In the past two months we have NOT gotten close to the minimum. Perhaps there has been an assumption that the danger of Illegal Alien Amnesties had passed. As you can see, if we fall asleep at the wheel, disaster will strike.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Open Borders lobby is extremely well-funded by countless wealthy foundations and corporations with deep pockets. We won’t be able to counter their influence or continue our current high degree of operations unless we continue to reach our financial goals each month. And some of you have already realized this:[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Apparently I hadn't paid attention to your previous [alert]...but am I reading you correctly—that NumbersUSA is presently getting contributions from under one percent of your participants? If that's true, it may reflect the greatest threat to our republic of all. If our republic is doomed, this is why."
~True Seaborn
"That is disappointing that we didn't make the goal. So I am doubling my donations. Just sent you guys 200. I know it's not much but will keep sending some as long as you keep up the good work."
~Rob Johnson
"Thank you and your staff for doing the incredible job you do! Illegal Immigration is now at the forefront of topics most discussed in the upcoming elections... where it ought to be. You have taken a volatile issue and forced our nations leaders to face the desires and wishes of their constituents. We, the constituents, could not have done this individually! Thank you!"
~Richard Bohner
[/FONT]
~True Seaborn
"That is disappointing that we didn't make the goal. So I am doubling my donations. Just sent you guys 200. I know it's not much but will keep sending some as long as you keep up the good work."
~Rob Johnson
"Thank you and your staff for doing the incredible job you do! Illegal Immigration is now at the forefront of topics most discussed in the upcoming elections... where it ought to be. You have taken a volatile issue and forced our nations leaders to face the desires and wishes of their constituents. We, the constituents, could not have done this individually! Thank you!"
~Richard Bohner
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Help us defeat this deception AMNESTY. Don't let our work over the past 10 years be undone![/FONT]
<TABLE height=50 width=650><TBODY><TR><TD width="27.5%"></TD><TD borderColor=#cc0000 align=middle width="42%" bgColor=#ff0000>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+2]Press Here To Donate [/SIZE][/FONT]</TD><TD width="27.5%"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Remember, if you are ill, unemployed, or living on a small fixed income, please do not contribute. We only ask for help from those able to help.
THANK YOU,
Roy Beck
NumbersUSA President
P. S. When making a contribution online, you should receive an automatic receipt sent to you via email.[/FONT]
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>THANK YOU,
Roy Beck
NumbersUSA President
P. S. When making a contribution online, you should receive an automatic receipt sent to you via email.[/FONT]
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More letters to Editors
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Index:
The Spectrum (Utah) 2/4
(1) Barbara Vickroy
The Washington (D.C.) Times � 2/5
(2) Mark Cromer
The Washington (D.C.) Times � 2/5
(3) D.A. King
Washington (D.C.) Examiner � 2/6
(4) Al Eisner
Green Valley (Ariz) News and Sun � 2/6
(5) Dick Oakley
Bozeman (Mont.) Daily Chronicle � 2/8
(6) Paul Nachman
The Spectrum (University at Buffalo, N.Y.) � 2/8
(7) Gene Nelson
The Gainesville (Ga.) Times � 2/8
(8) D.A. King
(1)
The Spectrum (Utah) � 2/4
Latino Siren Song is plain deafening
Talk about a sense of entitlement. The Latino press moans that, "Mexican students in border towns have been pressured to prevent them from attending classes at public schools on U.S. territory." All together now: "Oh, boo-hoo."
The recent report by Education Week (Quality Counts 2008) gave grades to state's education outcomes. Ten states received a D in the K-12 achievement index that measures current academic performance and gains made by students over time. The national average was D-plus in this category, with three states recording D-minus and four finishing with an F.
Our nation depends on the education of our youngsters to maintain our economic position in the world. We handicap our teachers and education system, when we allow our leaders to act on the myth that illegal immigration is a "victimless crime" and croon soft songs about "illegal immigrants only want what is best for their children." Listening to that Siren Song is preventing us from giving our children the education that they and our nation deserve.
Barbara Vickroy
Escondido, Calif.
(2)
The Washington (D.C.) Times � 2/5
McCain and friend
By Mark Cromer - While Sen. John McCain is clearly more embittered than humbled by the crushing defeat that a furious American people dealt his mass amnesty plan last summer, the co-architect of the scheme to grant as many as 30 million illegal aliens instant legal status now swears he has found religion on immigration and is ready to secure the border.
Correctly assessing that his chances of winning the Republican nomination would be somewhere south of Rep. Ron Paul's if he were to continue to promote his plan for comprehensive immigration reform, Mr. McCain now blurts out the sound bite "I'll secure the border" anytime he is within five feet of a microphone.
While it has been met with skepticism among many Americans, Mr. McCain's tough talk on border security must sound quite appealing en espanol, as it has attracted a very interesting supporter to his campaign.
But Juan Hernandez is one endorsement that Mr. McCain won't be trumpeting in front of the cameras.
Mr. Hernandez, who now serves as one of Mr. McCain's Hispanic Outreach Directors, is no amateur in the debate over illegal immigration into the United States. Though largely unknown to the public, he's been at the center of the policy maelstrom for years, a critical frontline player for the proponents of open borders and an unflinching advocate for strident Mexican nationalism.
Though born in the United States to a father from Mexico and a mother from Texas, Mr. Hernandez has left no doubt as to where his loyalties lie. Serving as a cabinet member to Mexican President Vincente Fox � the first American in Mexico's history to do so � Mr. Hernandez has tirelessly fought against assimilation in America.
In an interview with ABC's Nightline, Mr. Hernandez said Mexican Americans must always think "Mexico first," whether they are one generation in the United States or have been here for seven generations.
In public remarks both before and after the terror attacks of September 11, Mr. Hernandez declared that Mexicans in the United States must never surrender their loyalty to Mexico, but rather must always keep "one foot in Mexico." Now that's straight talk; just not the kind that Mr. McCain wants voters to hear between now and the convention, or November if he wins the nomination. So perhaps it's not too surprising that Mr. McCain played dumb when a voter asked him about his association with Mr. Hernandez during a town hall meeting in Florida.
Questioned by a woman who recited Mr. Hernandez's comments that illegal immigrants are forced to steal citizens' Social Security numbers because they couldn't find work without them � which shifts the guilt to Americans � Mr. McCain quickly went into his stock stump mantra promising border security.
"He's on my staff because he supports my policies and my legislative proposal to secure the borders first," Mr. McCain asserted. "I don't know what his previous positions are or <BIS>other positions are, he supports mine." Mr. Hernandez does indeed support Mr. McCain � and that speaks volumes.
The fundamental question that American voters must ask themselves is: Why would a zealous Mexican nationalist who has dedicated much of his life to eliminating the border between Mexico and the United States now suddenly support a candidate who claims to favor securing the border once and for all? Could it be that Mr. McCain's assertions translate a little differently to Mr. Hernandez's ear? Indeed, that wide grin Mr. Hernandez likes to flash suggests that what he's hearing from Mr. McCain has a familiar ring to it, perhaps not unlike that of a Tijuana police chief vowing to crack down on corruption.
The bottom line is that Mr. Hernandez is a savvy man with enough sophistication to know that what Mr. McCain is not saying is equally important � if not more � than his pablum about "border security." And Mr. McCain is not saying he will support vigorous enforcement of our nation's immigration laws in the interior of the country, particularly at job sites; he's not saying that he supports deporting any significant number of illegal aliens already in the country; and he is surely not saying that he will end the chain migration laws that strike to the core of encouraging illegal immigrants to get into the nation at all costs and then wait for an amnesty that will allow them to bring their extended families north.
No, Mr. McCain is saying none of these things.
Mr. Hernandez hears the senator's "straight talk" loud and clear, and it seems to be music to his ears.
Mark Cromer is a senior writing fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization.
(3)
The Washington (D.C.) Times � 2/5
Gov. Kaine, the appeaser
Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine doesn't want to crack down on the crime of illegal immigration ("Richmond aflutter on illegal aliens," Editorial, Jan. 14) or risk offending the business lobby by making it more difficult for lobby members to find black-market labor in his state.
At least he is honest. Though he apparently is labeling illegal aliens "new Americans," real American workers are watching their wages fall and their taxes dollars go to subsidize the employers' illegal "cheap labor."
Here in Georgia, we have watched as illegal aliens have packed up and left our state for more hospitable places because our legislature passed the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act last year. What we have proved is that enforcement works.
So does appeasement. Mr. Kaine should expect to be able to welcome many former Georgia-based illegals because of his benevolent attitude.
D.A. King
President
Dustin Inman Society
Marietta, Ga.
(4)
Washington (D.C.) Examiner � 2/6
No driver�s licenses for illegals
Kudos to Maryland Delegate Ron George who just reintroduced legislation in Annapolis to prohibit illegal aliens from receiving Maryland state driver�s licenses. The Proof of Legal Residence Act of 2008 currently has 58 co-sponsors in Annapolis consisting of 37 Republicans and 21 Democrats.
The Maryland General assembly should seriously consider passing this law that will preclude any illegal immigrant from obtaining a driver�s license in this state. Illegal immigrants that now continue to violate our laws are now still able to obtain driver�s licenses without proof that they are here legally. Their inability to adhere to our traffic laws contribute to more accidents and congestion on the Maryland highways.
Republican legislators in Maryland have been at the forefront of this issue and recently unveiled how serious the illegal immigration issue is in Maryland. Our state has become a magnet for illegal immigrants seeking a valid driver�s license without showing proof of legal presence. Over 100,000 �out of country� applicants are processed in Maryland each year.
Al Eisner
Wheaton, Md.
(5)
Green Valley (Ariz) News and Sun � 2/6
Licenses and immigrants
Editor:
In response to Marilynn Lowder's letter printed in the Feb. 1 edition, here are a few additional points: She states these are people who have never committed a crime. No! They are �illegal aliens,� who broke the law, when they entered this country.
There are hundreds of people trying to enter legally as these ILLEGALS swamp our health and educational systems. They are providing additional pollution in the environment and are lowering the wage levels. ILLEGALS also comprise a high percentage of the population in our prison system for breaking other laws after arriving.
Her statement that they cannot vote is questionable. They can certainly register to vote. In October of 2006, just before the elections, we were leaving the casino on Duval Mine Road, when I noticed a voter registration table. I stopped to ask what identification was needed to register and was told �an Arizona driver's license.� This was shortly after the media reported the busting of a counterfeit ring in Phoenix that had sold over 100,000 illegal driver�s licenses. In many situations at the polls, driver�s licenses are used to check whether the voter is on the list of registered voters and a ballet is provided.
With millions of ILLEGAL ALIENS in our country, allowing them to vote is compromising the rights of the real citizens and distorting that vote. I guess, if that distorted vote elects a politician, that politician will do nothing to correct this illegal act.
Think about it.
Dick Oakley
Green Valley, Ariz.
(6)
Bozeman (Mont.) Daily Chronicle � 2/8
�Lettuce argument� doesn�t hold water
In Belgrade letter writer Carmen Hobbs�s paean to immigration (Jan. 23), both legal and illegal, she asks, "who will pick the produce?" if we deport illegal aliens. Here Hobbs essentially serves up the old "lettuce argument": Lettuce will cost $5 per head if we don�t have illegal aliens working in the fields.
But UC Davis agricultural economist Philip Martin has shown that the field labor cost included in a $1 head of lettuce is about six cents. Thus we could triple wages for picking the crops � at which point Americans would do the jobs � and the cost of a head of lettuce would rise by 12 percent. The numbers are similar for other crops. So a family that spends $15 per week on produce would shell out about $100 more per year, a negligible tab for ending what�s virtually modern-day slave labor.
Citizens taking such jobs needn�t regard them as careers. Instead, these jobs are worthy introductions to the world of work for youngsters (and much preferable alternatives to our teenagers� current regime of aimlessly cruising malls and getting fat). I did similarly menial, but worthwhile, tasks when I was a kid.
Hobbs says, further, that the influx from the south � both legal and illegal � brings us "hard-working contributors to our society." She should acquaint herself with the work of Heritage Foundation policy heavyweight Robert Rector. Rector has crunched the numbers and shown that the average household headed by a low-skilled (i.e., high-school dropout) immigrant costs the rest of us, each year, about $19,000 more in benefits than the household pays in taxes. Some contribution. Rector notes, wryly, that an upsurge in the high school dropout rate among our youth would be alarming, but the importation of millions of high-school dropouts from abroad is seen, somehow, as an economic boon.
Paul Nachman
Bozeman, Mont.
(7)
The Spectrum (University at Buffalo, N.Y.) � 2/8
My Turn
Whose university is it anyway?
Gene A. Nelson, Ph.D - Class of 1984
You may not have paid much attention to Leslie Church's January 30, 2008 article, "Have skills, will travel: foreign students hope for work in the United States." You should have. It lays out many of the reasons why your investment of energy, time, and money in obtaining a SUNYAB degree will (in most cases) show a very poor return on investment (ROI) as a consequence of employer abuse of the H-1B Visa program. Your investment may even yield a negative ROI. Mine did. In order to obtain employment, I hid the fact that I earned a Ph.D. - otherwise I would be informed that I was "overqualified." That is employer-speak for thinly - disguised age discrimination, among other things.
My perspective regarding this issue is relevant. My bachelor's was from a top-notch science and engineering school in California, Harvey Mudd College. I worked hard to earn a Ph.D. in biophysics at SUNYAB between 1973 and 1984. I was unable to pursue a career in radiation biophysics. Now aged 56, I have had to face the prospect of homelessness more than once because employers prefer "fresh (inexpensive) young blood" - now mostly via the controversial 1990 H-1B visa program. The H-1B Visa gave to many employers the same advantage (special handling) that colleges and universities such as SUNYAB obtained via the obscure 1976 "Eilberg Amendment."
What does special handling mean? Simply that an employer sets the wages and working conditions for the highly-skilled labor that they obtain via work visa programs such as H-1B. The highly skilled immigrant responds to the prospective reward of U.S. citizenship (or no prosecution for overstaying their visa) for themselves and their extended family by their willingness to work for very low wages in most cases. There is also the slight chance that the immigrant may face deportation for working while "out of status." However, in response to employer - interest lobbying, U.S. immigration laws are rarely enforced. Lest you think that visa overstaying is an isolated phenomenon, one of the most recent INS surveys, published in 1998, showed that about half of all foreign nationals that were euphemistically "out of status" had overstayed their student, work, or tourist visa. Coupling that information with a recent estimate that there are currently 38 million people in the U.S. who are "out of status" yields a large population in competition for the "white collar" jobs that SUNYAB trains us for.
Professor Norm Matloff of UC Davis has studied the H-1B wage depression phenomenon extensively. Googling on "H-1B" and Matloff yield over 1,000 links. Start with the topmost link. You will learn that the H-1B is typically paid greater than 20% less than a comparably-qualified U.S. citizen, who has the right of employment free agency. The "remarkable loyalty" of the H-1B visa holder is praised by some of the sources that Matloff cites. This is a consequence of the "carrots and sticks" above that were designed by the employer interests who effectively wrote most of the H-1B visa law. First-hand experience has also taught me that the purported wage protections for U.S. citizens are loophole-ridden.
You may not be shocked to also learn that this diminution of U.S. high-skilled salary scales was planned for in the late 1980s by a U.S. government agency, the National Science Foundation (NSF.) A MIT mathematician and legal researcher, Eric Weinstein unearthed this information and has publicized it. Google on the two acronyms NSF and NBER and "Weinstein." The first reference is a paper with a title that begins "How and Why Government...." Quoting from the NSF policy analysts, "A growing influx of foreign PhD's into U.S. labor markets will hold down the level of PhD salaries to the extent that foreign students are attracted to U.S. doctoral programs as a way of immigrating to the U.S.. A related point is that for this group the PhD salary premium is much higher [than it is for Americans>, because it is based on BS-level pay in students' home nations versus PhD-level pay in the U.S.. "
If you have any doubt about regarding the effectiveness of this policy, note a "postdoc" is typically paid less than the manager of a fast food restaurant, who may only have a high school education. Use the link to the disclosure site H1b.info, http://h1b.info/lca_search.php Use "Research Foundation of SUNY Buffalo" for the employer, 2006 for the year, and you will learn that SUNYAB hired six "postdocs" that year, each for a meager salary of about $30K.
Let's return to the title of this article. See... http://www.suny.edu/files/sunynewsfiles/pdf/BudgetBook0809.pdf
The 2008-09 SUNY Budget request establishes on Table 1, Page 10 that the SUNY 2007-08 all funds budget request total was $10.08 billion. The report takes 44 pages to request more for 2008-09 without a prominent total. Most of these funds are paid by taxpayers, so I hold that the taxpayers should have significant input into how those funds are spent. Should funds be spent to facilitate employment age discrimination against U.S. citizens? Should U.S.citizens have some protection from the economic migration desires of 6 billion people?
In summary, here's the concluding paragraph of one of my published articles from 2005...
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/pdf/fifteen-three/xv-3-207.pdf
Caltech Vice Provost David Goodstein summarized the problem in a 1993 American Scholar article: "The American taxpayer (both state and federal) is supporting extremely expensive research universities whose main educational purpose is to train students from abroad. When these students finish their educations, they either stay here, taking relatively high-paying jobs that could have gone to Americans, or they go home, taking our knowledge and our technology with them. Congress and the public doesn't seem to have noticed that, while largely ignoring our own students, we are putting our money and our best talent into training our economic competitors. Just wait until this one hits the fan.
(8)
The Gainesville (Ga.) Times � 2/8
Cronic earns praise for enforcing 287(g) law
I applaud Sheriff Cronic for his courage and attention to duty in implementing the 287(g) section of the 1996 amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act in having some of his deputies trained to expand their existing authority to enforce American immigration law. So should the legal residents of Hall County.
Here's wishing that in addition to applying the law to illegal aliens, he could also deport some of the illegal employers who have a better chance of being struck by lightning than being punished for violating some of the same laws.
From years of studying the results in many other jurisdictions that have done what Sheriff Cronic has, and seeing first hand the very quick change in Cobb County where our sheriff began the program in July, here are some predictions:
ID theft crimes will decrease. Illegal aliens will begin to migrate out of Hall County. Employers will whine that they must pay a higher wage and improve working conditions to get legal workers. Parasitic ethnic hustlers who encourage and feed on continued illegal immigration will begin to howl that any enforcement of the law that affects the illegals who are their golden goose is profiling and, sooner or later, racist.
For his using 287(g), we had a rally on the courthouse steps here to thank our sheriff, Neil Warren, and flooded his office with phone calls of appreciation. I hope that something similar happens in Hall County. Bravo Sheriff Cronic!
D.A. King
Marietta, Ga.
================
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Index:
The Spectrum (Utah) 2/4
(1) Barbara Vickroy
The Washington (D.C.) Times � 2/5
(2) Mark Cromer
The Washington (D.C.) Times � 2/5
(3) D.A. King
Washington (D.C.) Examiner � 2/6
(4) Al Eisner
Green Valley (Ariz) News and Sun � 2/6
(5) Dick Oakley
Bozeman (Mont.) Daily Chronicle � 2/8
(6) Paul Nachman
The Spectrum (University at Buffalo, N.Y.) � 2/8
(7) Gene Nelson
The Gainesville (Ga.) Times � 2/8
(8) D.A. King
(1)
The Spectrum (Utah) � 2/4
Latino Siren Song is plain deafening
Talk about a sense of entitlement. The Latino press moans that, "Mexican students in border towns have been pressured to prevent them from attending classes at public schools on U.S. territory." All together now: "Oh, boo-hoo."
The recent report by Education Week (Quality Counts 2008) gave grades to state's education outcomes. Ten states received a D in the K-12 achievement index that measures current academic performance and gains made by students over time. The national average was D-plus in this category, with three states recording D-minus and four finishing with an F.
Our nation depends on the education of our youngsters to maintain our economic position in the world. We handicap our teachers and education system, when we allow our leaders to act on the myth that illegal immigration is a "victimless crime" and croon soft songs about "illegal immigrants only want what is best for their children." Listening to that Siren Song is preventing us from giving our children the education that they and our nation deserve.
Barbara Vickroy
Escondido, Calif.
(2)
The Washington (D.C.) Times � 2/5
McCain and friend
By Mark Cromer - While Sen. John McCain is clearly more embittered than humbled by the crushing defeat that a furious American people dealt his mass amnesty plan last summer, the co-architect of the scheme to grant as many as 30 million illegal aliens instant legal status now swears he has found religion on immigration and is ready to secure the border.
Correctly assessing that his chances of winning the Republican nomination would be somewhere south of Rep. Ron Paul's if he were to continue to promote his plan for comprehensive immigration reform, Mr. McCain now blurts out the sound bite "I'll secure the border" anytime he is within five feet of a microphone.
While it has been met with skepticism among many Americans, Mr. McCain's tough talk on border security must sound quite appealing en espanol, as it has attracted a very interesting supporter to his campaign.
But Juan Hernandez is one endorsement that Mr. McCain won't be trumpeting in front of the cameras.
Mr. Hernandez, who now serves as one of Mr. McCain's Hispanic Outreach Directors, is no amateur in the debate over illegal immigration into the United States. Though largely unknown to the public, he's been at the center of the policy maelstrom for years, a critical frontline player for the proponents of open borders and an unflinching advocate for strident Mexican nationalism.
Though born in the United States to a father from Mexico and a mother from Texas, Mr. Hernandez has left no doubt as to where his loyalties lie. Serving as a cabinet member to Mexican President Vincente Fox � the first American in Mexico's history to do so � Mr. Hernandez has tirelessly fought against assimilation in America.
In an interview with ABC's Nightline, Mr. Hernandez said Mexican Americans must always think "Mexico first," whether they are one generation in the United States or have been here for seven generations.
In public remarks both before and after the terror attacks of September 11, Mr. Hernandez declared that Mexicans in the United States must never surrender their loyalty to Mexico, but rather must always keep "one foot in Mexico." Now that's straight talk; just not the kind that Mr. McCain wants voters to hear between now and the convention, or November if he wins the nomination. So perhaps it's not too surprising that Mr. McCain played dumb when a voter asked him about his association with Mr. Hernandez during a town hall meeting in Florida.
Questioned by a woman who recited Mr. Hernandez's comments that illegal immigrants are forced to steal citizens' Social Security numbers because they couldn't find work without them � which shifts the guilt to Americans � Mr. McCain quickly went into his stock stump mantra promising border security.
"He's on my staff because he supports my policies and my legislative proposal to secure the borders first," Mr. McCain asserted. "I don't know what his previous positions are or <BIS>other positions are, he supports mine." Mr. Hernandez does indeed support Mr. McCain � and that speaks volumes.
The fundamental question that American voters must ask themselves is: Why would a zealous Mexican nationalist who has dedicated much of his life to eliminating the border between Mexico and the United States now suddenly support a candidate who claims to favor securing the border once and for all? Could it be that Mr. McCain's assertions translate a little differently to Mr. Hernandez's ear? Indeed, that wide grin Mr. Hernandez likes to flash suggests that what he's hearing from Mr. McCain has a familiar ring to it, perhaps not unlike that of a Tijuana police chief vowing to crack down on corruption.
The bottom line is that Mr. Hernandez is a savvy man with enough sophistication to know that what Mr. McCain is not saying is equally important � if not more � than his pablum about "border security." And Mr. McCain is not saying he will support vigorous enforcement of our nation's immigration laws in the interior of the country, particularly at job sites; he's not saying that he supports deporting any significant number of illegal aliens already in the country; and he is surely not saying that he will end the chain migration laws that strike to the core of encouraging illegal immigrants to get into the nation at all costs and then wait for an amnesty that will allow them to bring their extended families north.
No, Mr. McCain is saying none of these things.
Mr. Hernandez hears the senator's "straight talk" loud and clear, and it seems to be music to his ears.
Mark Cromer is a senior writing fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization.
(3)
The Washington (D.C.) Times � 2/5
Gov. Kaine, the appeaser
Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine doesn't want to crack down on the crime of illegal immigration ("Richmond aflutter on illegal aliens," Editorial, Jan. 14) or risk offending the business lobby by making it more difficult for lobby members to find black-market labor in his state.
At least he is honest. Though he apparently is labeling illegal aliens "new Americans," real American workers are watching their wages fall and their taxes dollars go to subsidize the employers' illegal "cheap labor."
Here in Georgia, we have watched as illegal aliens have packed up and left our state for more hospitable places because our legislature passed the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act last year. What we have proved is that enforcement works.
So does appeasement. Mr. Kaine should expect to be able to welcome many former Georgia-based illegals because of his benevolent attitude.
D.A. King
President
Dustin Inman Society
Marietta, Ga.
(4)
Washington (D.C.) Examiner � 2/6
No driver�s licenses for illegals
Kudos to Maryland Delegate Ron George who just reintroduced legislation in Annapolis to prohibit illegal aliens from receiving Maryland state driver�s licenses. The Proof of Legal Residence Act of 2008 currently has 58 co-sponsors in Annapolis consisting of 37 Republicans and 21 Democrats.
The Maryland General assembly should seriously consider passing this law that will preclude any illegal immigrant from obtaining a driver�s license in this state. Illegal immigrants that now continue to violate our laws are now still able to obtain driver�s licenses without proof that they are here legally. Their inability to adhere to our traffic laws contribute to more accidents and congestion on the Maryland highways.
Republican legislators in Maryland have been at the forefront of this issue and recently unveiled how serious the illegal immigration issue is in Maryland. Our state has become a magnet for illegal immigrants seeking a valid driver�s license without showing proof of legal presence. Over 100,000 �out of country� applicants are processed in Maryland each year.
Al Eisner
Wheaton, Md.
(5)
Green Valley (Ariz) News and Sun � 2/6
Licenses and immigrants
Editor:
In response to Marilynn Lowder's letter printed in the Feb. 1 edition, here are a few additional points: She states these are people who have never committed a crime. No! They are �illegal aliens,� who broke the law, when they entered this country.
There are hundreds of people trying to enter legally as these ILLEGALS swamp our health and educational systems. They are providing additional pollution in the environment and are lowering the wage levels. ILLEGALS also comprise a high percentage of the population in our prison system for breaking other laws after arriving.
Her statement that they cannot vote is questionable. They can certainly register to vote. In October of 2006, just before the elections, we were leaving the casino on Duval Mine Road, when I noticed a voter registration table. I stopped to ask what identification was needed to register and was told �an Arizona driver's license.� This was shortly after the media reported the busting of a counterfeit ring in Phoenix that had sold over 100,000 illegal driver�s licenses. In many situations at the polls, driver�s licenses are used to check whether the voter is on the list of registered voters and a ballet is provided.
With millions of ILLEGAL ALIENS in our country, allowing them to vote is compromising the rights of the real citizens and distorting that vote. I guess, if that distorted vote elects a politician, that politician will do nothing to correct this illegal act.
Think about it.
Dick Oakley
Green Valley, Ariz.
(6)
Bozeman (Mont.) Daily Chronicle � 2/8
�Lettuce argument� doesn�t hold water
In Belgrade letter writer Carmen Hobbs�s paean to immigration (Jan. 23), both legal and illegal, she asks, "who will pick the produce?" if we deport illegal aliens. Here Hobbs essentially serves up the old "lettuce argument": Lettuce will cost $5 per head if we don�t have illegal aliens working in the fields.
But UC Davis agricultural economist Philip Martin has shown that the field labor cost included in a $1 head of lettuce is about six cents. Thus we could triple wages for picking the crops � at which point Americans would do the jobs � and the cost of a head of lettuce would rise by 12 percent. The numbers are similar for other crops. So a family that spends $15 per week on produce would shell out about $100 more per year, a negligible tab for ending what�s virtually modern-day slave labor.
Citizens taking such jobs needn�t regard them as careers. Instead, these jobs are worthy introductions to the world of work for youngsters (and much preferable alternatives to our teenagers� current regime of aimlessly cruising malls and getting fat). I did similarly menial, but worthwhile, tasks when I was a kid.
Hobbs says, further, that the influx from the south � both legal and illegal � brings us "hard-working contributors to our society." She should acquaint herself with the work of Heritage Foundation policy heavyweight Robert Rector. Rector has crunched the numbers and shown that the average household headed by a low-skilled (i.e., high-school dropout) immigrant costs the rest of us, each year, about $19,000 more in benefits than the household pays in taxes. Some contribution. Rector notes, wryly, that an upsurge in the high school dropout rate among our youth would be alarming, but the importation of millions of high-school dropouts from abroad is seen, somehow, as an economic boon.
Paul Nachman
Bozeman, Mont.
(7)
The Spectrum (University at Buffalo, N.Y.) � 2/8
My Turn
Whose university is it anyway?
Gene A. Nelson, Ph.D - Class of 1984
You may not have paid much attention to Leslie Church's January 30, 2008 article, "Have skills, will travel: foreign students hope for work in the United States." You should have. It lays out many of the reasons why your investment of energy, time, and money in obtaining a SUNYAB degree will (in most cases) show a very poor return on investment (ROI) as a consequence of employer abuse of the H-1B Visa program. Your investment may even yield a negative ROI. Mine did. In order to obtain employment, I hid the fact that I earned a Ph.D. - otherwise I would be informed that I was "overqualified." That is employer-speak for thinly - disguised age discrimination, among other things.
My perspective regarding this issue is relevant. My bachelor's was from a top-notch science and engineering school in California, Harvey Mudd College. I worked hard to earn a Ph.D. in biophysics at SUNYAB between 1973 and 1984. I was unable to pursue a career in radiation biophysics. Now aged 56, I have had to face the prospect of homelessness more than once because employers prefer "fresh (inexpensive) young blood" - now mostly via the controversial 1990 H-1B visa program. The H-1B Visa gave to many employers the same advantage (special handling) that colleges and universities such as SUNYAB obtained via the obscure 1976 "Eilberg Amendment."
What does special handling mean? Simply that an employer sets the wages and working conditions for the highly-skilled labor that they obtain via work visa programs such as H-1B. The highly skilled immigrant responds to the prospective reward of U.S. citizenship (or no prosecution for overstaying their visa) for themselves and their extended family by their willingness to work for very low wages in most cases. There is also the slight chance that the immigrant may face deportation for working while "out of status." However, in response to employer - interest lobbying, U.S. immigration laws are rarely enforced. Lest you think that visa overstaying is an isolated phenomenon, one of the most recent INS surveys, published in 1998, showed that about half of all foreign nationals that were euphemistically "out of status" had overstayed their student, work, or tourist visa. Coupling that information with a recent estimate that there are currently 38 million people in the U.S. who are "out of status" yields a large population in competition for the "white collar" jobs that SUNYAB trains us for.
Professor Norm Matloff of UC Davis has studied the H-1B wage depression phenomenon extensively. Googling on "H-1B" and Matloff yield over 1,000 links. Start with the topmost link. You will learn that the H-1B is typically paid greater than 20% less than a comparably-qualified U.S. citizen, who has the right of employment free agency. The "remarkable loyalty" of the H-1B visa holder is praised by some of the sources that Matloff cites. This is a consequence of the "carrots and sticks" above that were designed by the employer interests who effectively wrote most of the H-1B visa law. First-hand experience has also taught me that the purported wage protections for U.S. citizens are loophole-ridden.
You may not be shocked to also learn that this diminution of U.S. high-skilled salary scales was planned for in the late 1980s by a U.S. government agency, the National Science Foundation (NSF.) A MIT mathematician and legal researcher, Eric Weinstein unearthed this information and has publicized it. Google on the two acronyms NSF and NBER and "Weinstein." The first reference is a paper with a title that begins "How and Why Government...." Quoting from the NSF policy analysts, "A growing influx of foreign PhD's into U.S. labor markets will hold down the level of PhD salaries to the extent that foreign students are attracted to U.S. doctoral programs as a way of immigrating to the U.S.. A related point is that for this group the PhD salary premium is much higher [than it is for Americans>, because it is based on BS-level pay in students' home nations versus PhD-level pay in the U.S.. "
If you have any doubt about regarding the effectiveness of this policy, note a "postdoc" is typically paid less than the manager of a fast food restaurant, who may only have a high school education. Use the link to the disclosure site H1b.info, http://h1b.info/lca_search.php Use "Research Foundation of SUNY Buffalo" for the employer, 2006 for the year, and you will learn that SUNYAB hired six "postdocs" that year, each for a meager salary of about $30K.
Let's return to the title of this article. See... http://www.suny.edu/files/sunynewsfiles/pdf/BudgetBook0809.pdf
The 2008-09 SUNY Budget request establishes on Table 1, Page 10 that the SUNY 2007-08 all funds budget request total was $10.08 billion. The report takes 44 pages to request more for 2008-09 without a prominent total. Most of these funds are paid by taxpayers, so I hold that the taxpayers should have significant input into how those funds are spent. Should funds be spent to facilitate employment age discrimination against U.S. citizens? Should U.S.citizens have some protection from the economic migration desires of 6 billion people?
In summary, here's the concluding paragraph of one of my published articles from 2005...
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/pdf/fifteen-three/xv-3-207.pdf
Caltech Vice Provost David Goodstein summarized the problem in a 1993 American Scholar article: "The American taxpayer (both state and federal) is supporting extremely expensive research universities whose main educational purpose is to train students from abroad. When these students finish their educations, they either stay here, taking relatively high-paying jobs that could have gone to Americans, or they go home, taking our knowledge and our technology with them. Congress and the public doesn't seem to have noticed that, while largely ignoring our own students, we are putting our money and our best talent into training our economic competitors. Just wait until this one hits the fan.
(8)
The Gainesville (Ga.) Times � 2/8
Cronic earns praise for enforcing 287(g) law
I applaud Sheriff Cronic for his courage and attention to duty in implementing the 287(g) section of the 1996 amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act in having some of his deputies trained to expand their existing authority to enforce American immigration law. So should the legal residents of Hall County.
Here's wishing that in addition to applying the law to illegal aliens, he could also deport some of the illegal employers who have a better chance of being struck by lightning than being punished for violating some of the same laws.
From years of studying the results in many other jurisdictions that have done what Sheriff Cronic has, and seeing first hand the very quick change in Cobb County where our sheriff began the program in July, here are some predictions:
ID theft crimes will decrease. Illegal aliens will begin to migrate out of Hall County. Employers will whine that they must pay a higher wage and improve working conditions to get legal workers. Parasitic ethnic hustlers who encourage and feed on continued illegal immigration will begin to howl that any enforcement of the law that affects the illegals who are their golden goose is profiling and, sooner or later, racist.
For his using 287(g), we had a rally on the courthouse steps here to thank our sheriff, Neil Warren, and flooded his office with phone calls of appreciation. I hope that something similar happens in Hall County. Bravo Sheriff Cronic!
D.A. King
Marietta, Ga.
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Washington Times Article
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="100%">Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:53 pm Post subject: Join numbersusa.com for free but they need donations now</TD><TD vAlign=top noWrap>
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>American jobs
The Washington Times : February 13 , 2008 -- by Herb McMillan
"Our illegal immigration policy should be 'attrition through enforcement.' First, we must secure our border and build the 850-mile fence mandated by Congress. So far, only a few miles have been completed. Simultaneously, we must prosecute and briefly jail those who illegally attempt to cross the border. Finally, we must prevent illegal immigrants from taking jobs from Americans by making legal status a labor standard, similar to child labor laws. Requiring businesses to use the Employment Eligibility Verification System, and then fining those with mismatched names and Social Security numbers, would make this standard a reality." "Immigrants do jobs Americans won't do and don't want." President Bush, John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy have all said it. But the facts tell a different story.
America's broken immigration laws are hurting U.S. workers and overburdening our taxpayers.
In 2006, America had 12 million illegal and 26 million legal immigrants. These 38 million immigrants total one-eighth of our population. A third of legal immigrants, and nearly two-thirds of illegal immigrants, haven't completed high school. Nine percent of American citizens aged 18-64 are without a high school degree.
Common sense, basic economics and the data indicate that admitting large numbers of poorly educated immigrants reduces job prospects and wages for less-educated/skilled Americans. Between 2000 and 2005, jobless Americans without a high school degree increased by 2 million. During the same period, immigrants without high school degrees grew 1.5 million.
The large, disproportionately undereducated influx of immigrant workers has depressed wages for less-skilled/educated Americans. In the last 25 years, hourly wages for high school dropouts decreased 20 percent relative to inflation. For American high school graduates, they decreased 10 percent. African Americans have been particularly hard hit, as Mrs. Clinton recognized in a CNN Democratic debate. Immigration accounted for a third of the jobs lost by African American high school dropouts over the last few decades.
Typically, pro-amnesty voices claim that illegal immigrants are needed because there aren't enough Americans to fill low-skill jobs. If this were true, then wages and employment rates for less skilled/educated American workers would rise as employers competed to hire them. Yet just the opposite has happened.
Enforcing immigration laws improves pay and job opportunities for less-skilled/educated American workers. When illegal immigrants were removed from the Cruder poultry plant in Stillmore, Ga., wages increased significantly. Additionally, Cruder provided workers from nearby towns with shuttles and free dormitories. Cruder hired workers from the local unemployment office, probationers and men from a homeless mission. The Wall Street Journal noted, "For the first time since Latinos began arriving in the late '90s, Cruder's processing lines were made up of local African Americans."
America's immigration policy has not only harmed less-skilled/educated American workers, but it also heavily burdened taxpayers. In 1997, the National Academy of Sciences estimated that immigrant households consumed $20 billion more in public services than they paid in taxes annually. Adjusted for inflation and the current number of immigrants, this figure would be $40 billion. Net costs to taxpayers would triple if illegal aliens received amnesty and began to use services and pay taxes like legal immigrants with equivalent educations.
In 1996, America reformed welfare because it devalued citizens and overburdened taxpayers. We must reform our immigration policies for the same reasons.
Our illegal immigration policy should be "attrition through enforcement." First, we must secure our border and build the 850-mile fence mandated by Congress. So far, only a few miles have been completed. Simultaneously, we must prosecute and briefly jail those who illegally attempt to cross the border. Finally, we must prevent illegal immigrants from taking jobs from Americans by making legal status a labor standard, similar to child labor laws. Requiring businesses to use the Employment Eligibility Verification System, and then fining those with mismatched names and Social Security numbers, would make this standard a reality. Most illegal aliens work on the books, using their real name and a made-up Social Security number. The IRS can fine companies for submitting mismatched W-2s but never has. It's time to step up enforcement.
The Center for Immigration Studies estimates these actions would result in 50 percent of the illegal-immigrant population returning to their countries within five years. The benefit to taxpayers and less-educated/skilled American workers would be substantial.
Current immigration laws, which give preference to immigrants with family members already here, is outdated and unsustainable. Preferences for better- educated immigrants, who will be self-sustaining economic contributors instead of taxpayer burdens, should be instituted.
America's first consideration must always be the security and welfare of our citizens. We have welcomed more immigrants than any country on Earth, but always in accordance with our laws and, except in cases of humanitarian emergencies, always based upon the proposition that their admittance was mutually beneficial.
America's needs have changed. We are no longer an expanding agrarian nation, so hungry for settlers we give away land. Nor do we require millions of unskilled laborers to fuel an industrial explosion. Immigration policies that fulfilled these needs benefited America in the past. Now they only benefit those who want cheap, taxpayer-subsidized labor, and harm American workers who've seen their wages and job opportunities plummet. It's time to put American workers first. Presidential candidates who recognize immigration reform as a blue-collar economic issue will be a step ahead of the pack.
Herb McMillan, a captain at a major airline, serves on the Board of the Maryland Taxpayers Association.
http://numbersusa.com/video http://numbersusa.com/actionbuffet http://smartbusinesspractices.com/pilot http://immigrationcounters.com & I can go on & on... Many more sites & info throughout the blog & thanks for visiting the blog.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="100%">Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:53 pm Post subject: Join numbersusa.com for free but they need donations now</TD><TD vAlign=top noWrap>
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>American jobs The Washington Times : February 13 , 2008 -- by Herb McMillan
"Our illegal immigration policy should be 'attrition through enforcement.' First, we must secure our border and build the 850-mile fence mandated by Congress. So far, only a few miles have been completed. Simultaneously, we must prosecute and briefly jail those who illegally attempt to cross the border. Finally, we must prevent illegal immigrants from taking jobs from Americans by making legal status a labor standard, similar to child labor laws. Requiring businesses to use the Employment Eligibility Verification System, and then fining those with mismatched names and Social Security numbers, would make this standard a reality." "Immigrants do jobs Americans won't do and don't want." President Bush, John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy have all said it. But the facts tell a different story.
America's broken immigration laws are hurting U.S. workers and overburdening our taxpayers.
In 2006, America had 12 million illegal and 26 million legal immigrants. These 38 million immigrants total one-eighth of our population. A third of legal immigrants, and nearly two-thirds of illegal immigrants, haven't completed high school. Nine percent of American citizens aged 18-64 are without a high school degree.
Common sense, basic economics and the data indicate that admitting large numbers of poorly educated immigrants reduces job prospects and wages for less-educated/skilled Americans. Between 2000 and 2005, jobless Americans without a high school degree increased by 2 million. During the same period, immigrants without high school degrees grew 1.5 million.
The large, disproportionately undereducated influx of immigrant workers has depressed wages for less-skilled/educated Americans. In the last 25 years, hourly wages for high school dropouts decreased 20 percent relative to inflation. For American high school graduates, they decreased 10 percent. African Americans have been particularly hard hit, as Mrs. Clinton recognized in a CNN Democratic debate. Immigration accounted for a third of the jobs lost by African American high school dropouts over the last few decades.
Typically, pro-amnesty voices claim that illegal immigrants are needed because there aren't enough Americans to fill low-skill jobs. If this were true, then wages and employment rates for less skilled/educated American workers would rise as employers competed to hire them. Yet just the opposite has happened.
Enforcing immigration laws improves pay and job opportunities for less-skilled/educated American workers. When illegal immigrants were removed from the Cruder poultry plant in Stillmore, Ga., wages increased significantly. Additionally, Cruder provided workers from nearby towns with shuttles and free dormitories. Cruder hired workers from the local unemployment office, probationers and men from a homeless mission. The Wall Street Journal noted, "For the first time since Latinos began arriving in the late '90s, Cruder's processing lines were made up of local African Americans."
America's immigration policy has not only harmed less-skilled/educated American workers, but it also heavily burdened taxpayers. In 1997, the National Academy of Sciences estimated that immigrant households consumed $20 billion more in public services than they paid in taxes annually. Adjusted for inflation and the current number of immigrants, this figure would be $40 billion. Net costs to taxpayers would triple if illegal aliens received amnesty and began to use services and pay taxes like legal immigrants with equivalent educations.
In 1996, America reformed welfare because it devalued citizens and overburdened taxpayers. We must reform our immigration policies for the same reasons.
Our illegal immigration policy should be "attrition through enforcement." First, we must secure our border and build the 850-mile fence mandated by Congress. So far, only a few miles have been completed. Simultaneously, we must prosecute and briefly jail those who illegally attempt to cross the border. Finally, we must prevent illegal immigrants from taking jobs from Americans by making legal status a labor standard, similar to child labor laws. Requiring businesses to use the Employment Eligibility Verification System, and then fining those with mismatched names and Social Security numbers, would make this standard a reality. Most illegal aliens work on the books, using their real name and a made-up Social Security number. The IRS can fine companies for submitting mismatched W-2s but never has. It's time to step up enforcement.
The Center for Immigration Studies estimates these actions would result in 50 percent of the illegal-immigrant population returning to their countries within five years. The benefit to taxpayers and less-educated/skilled American workers would be substantial.
Current immigration laws, which give preference to immigrants with family members already here, is outdated and unsustainable. Preferences for better- educated immigrants, who will be self-sustaining economic contributors instead of taxpayer burdens, should be instituted.
America's first consideration must always be the security and welfare of our citizens. We have welcomed more immigrants than any country on Earth, but always in accordance with our laws and, except in cases of humanitarian emergencies, always based upon the proposition that their admittance was mutually beneficial.
America's needs have changed. We are no longer an expanding agrarian nation, so hungry for settlers we give away land. Nor do we require millions of unskilled laborers to fuel an industrial explosion. Immigration policies that fulfilled these needs benefited America in the past. Now they only benefit those who want cheap, taxpayer-subsidized labor, and harm American workers who've seen their wages and job opportunities plummet. It's time to put American workers first. Presidential candidates who recognize immigration reform as a blue-collar economic issue will be a step ahead of the pack.
Herb McMillan, a captain at a major airline, serves on the Board of the Maryland Taxpayers Association.
http://numbersusa.com/video http://numbersusa.com/actionbuffet http://smartbusinesspractices.com/pilot http://immigrationcounters.com & I can go on & on... Many more sites & info throughout the blog & thanks for visiting the blog.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=650 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD rowSpan=3> </TD><TD class=t1fromdatetext>From: Roy Beck, President, http://NumbersUSA.com </TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1fromdatetext>Date: Sunday 17FEB08 4 p.m. EST </TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1fromdatetext> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1redunderbigheader>Congress needs to hear from you this week -- Stop the increases in foreign workers & amnesty </TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1thinwhitespace> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1letterblock vAlign=top align=left>DEAR FRIENDS,
Just when you think the Big Business Lobbyists can't be any more callous ...
At the same time as reports that we may be in an economic recession and that the job market is getting more and more difficult for Americans, the magazines, newspapers and airwaves are filled with op-eds, editorials and articles quoting the business leaders and lobbyists saying we must import more foreign workers!
Both the Democratic and Republican leadership of U.S. House and Senate are right now conspiring to bring legislation to the floor to greatly expand the pool of foreign labor in this country -- even as they talk about the need for taxpayers to provide more unemployment compensation for all the Americans who are losing their jobs.
This kind of insanity is nothing new.
And it will never slow down unless we as a Lobby of the People mobilize in massive fashion to put an end to it.
Please go to your NumbersUSA Action Buffet corkboard and make sure you have taken all the actions we have provided you to stand up against this latest effort of the Big Business Lobby to depress wages and foist major new subsidies upon the taxpayers.
I have been working full-time on these immigration issues since 1991. The Big Business Lobby and its well-compensated friends in Congress always use every upturn in the economy to cry for more foreign labor because of perceived shortages. But they never change their tune when the economy turns down. In every period of rising unemployment, the Big Business Lobby continues to cry about terrible worker shortages and always brings in hundreds of thousands of foreign workers during recessions.
Your NumbersUSA Capitol Hill Team has talked to a number of people who have been in high level Hill meetings where leaders of both Parties have expressed a desire during this time of economic turmoil to sneak through giant increases of H-1B visas for foreign tech workers, H-2B visas for foreign laborers, greencards for permanent foreign nurses and a five-year visa for 12-20 million illegal foreign workers and their dependents.
Friends, I know that all of this may seem too crazy to be true. But please believe me that that the worse our country's economic situation, the more your congressional leaders see a chance to give their corporate sponsors the huge foreign labor increases that the People's Lobby has been blocking the last several years.
Send your faxes immediately. Remember that Monday is a federal holiday. Wait to make your phone calls until Tuesday.
Congressional leaders hope you will be so busy worrying about your own jobs that you won't notice them giving away millions more through immigration increases.
THANKS,
P.S. Like many of you, I suspect, I have been knocked for a loop the last couple of weeks with a respiratory flu that dodged whatever my flu shot was about. I am re-emerging and thank my staff for keeping the alerts flowing to you with links for the various faxes and phone action notes that they've been making available to you to protect the country from the open-borders lobbies. Basically, what seems to have happened is that the emergence of McCain, Clinton and Obama as the almost guaranteed group from which our next President will come has convinced congressional leaders of both Parties that the American people are willing to allow a continuation of the Bush open-borders policies that have been so detrimental to American workers and American communities for eight years.
Frankly, the Members of Congress must be jolted back to some sensibility. Only you can do that -- in conjunction with hundreds of thousands of others who make it clear that the American people have not let down their guard.
Please prove the lie of all the commentators who are now saying that the American people have changed their minds about immigration and are no longer interested in stopping the Big Business Lobby in replacing the American workforce with cheaper more compliant foreign labor. </TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1redoversmallheader vAlign=top align=left>P.S. We can triple our membership quickly if our members email their friends about us and they in turn email theirs. Polls show that most Americans agree with NumbersUSA's positions but, despite our recent rapid growth, most American voters still have never heard of us. You can help change that by forwarding this email widely. (Note: depending on your email provider, you may need to send this as an "attachment.") </TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1redundersmallfooter vAlign=top align=left colSpan=2>This may be a good time for you to make sure that you've let us know all of the areas you are interested in. In order to further customize the type of alerts you receive click here http://www.numbersusa.com/survey?action=longlist
As a NumbersUSA subscriber, you will receive occasional emails about immigration-related opportunities. If you want to increase or reduce the frequency of these emails, click here and choose from Total Activism, Moderate Activism, or Limited Activism at the bottom of your registration form: http://www.numbersusa.com/user
NumbersUSA - relies upon individuals like you to reach its goal of an environmentally sustainable and economically just America.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<IMG border=0 ="http://www.numbersusa.com/hub?action=sendImage&jid=6619&tid=373743&lid=9">
http://NumbersUSA.com
1601 N. Kent Street
Suite 1100
Arlington, VA 22209
Just when you think the Big Business Lobbyists can't be any more callous ...
At the same time as reports that we may be in an economic recession and that the job market is getting more and more difficult for Americans, the magazines, newspapers and airwaves are filled with op-eds, editorials and articles quoting the business leaders and lobbyists saying we must import more foreign workers!
Both the Democratic and Republican leadership of U.S. House and Senate are right now conspiring to bring legislation to the floor to greatly expand the pool of foreign labor in this country -- even as they talk about the need for taxpayers to provide more unemployment compensation for all the Americans who are losing their jobs.
This kind of insanity is nothing new.
And it will never slow down unless we as a Lobby of the People mobilize in massive fashion to put an end to it.
Please go to your NumbersUSA Action Buffet corkboard and make sure you have taken all the actions we have provided you to stand up against this latest effort of the Big Business Lobby to depress wages and foist major new subsidies upon the taxpayers.
I have been working full-time on these immigration issues since 1991. The Big Business Lobby and its well-compensated friends in Congress always use every upturn in the economy to cry for more foreign labor because of perceived shortages. But they never change their tune when the economy turns down. In every period of rising unemployment, the Big Business Lobby continues to cry about terrible worker shortages and always brings in hundreds of thousands of foreign workers during recessions.
Your NumbersUSA Capitol Hill Team has talked to a number of people who have been in high level Hill meetings where leaders of both Parties have expressed a desire during this time of economic turmoil to sneak through giant increases of H-1B visas for foreign tech workers, H-2B visas for foreign laborers, greencards for permanent foreign nurses and a five-year visa for 12-20 million illegal foreign workers and their dependents.
Friends, I know that all of this may seem too crazy to be true. But please believe me that that the worse our country's economic situation, the more your congressional leaders see a chance to give their corporate sponsors the huge foreign labor increases that the People's Lobby has been blocking the last several years.
Send your faxes immediately. Remember that Monday is a federal holiday. Wait to make your phone calls until Tuesday.
Congressional leaders hope you will be so busy worrying about your own jobs that you won't notice them giving away millions more through immigration increases.
THANKS,
P.S. Like many of you, I suspect, I have been knocked for a loop the last couple of weeks with a respiratory flu that dodged whatever my flu shot was about. I am re-emerging and thank my staff for keeping the alerts flowing to you with links for the various faxes and phone action notes that they've been making available to you to protect the country from the open-borders lobbies. Basically, what seems to have happened is that the emergence of McCain, Clinton and Obama as the almost guaranteed group from which our next President will come has convinced congressional leaders of both Parties that the American people are willing to allow a continuation of the Bush open-borders policies that have been so detrimental to American workers and American communities for eight years.
Frankly, the Members of Congress must be jolted back to some sensibility. Only you can do that -- in conjunction with hundreds of thousands of others who make it clear that the American people have not let down their guard.
Please prove the lie of all the commentators who are now saying that the American people have changed their minds about immigration and are no longer interested in stopping the Big Business Lobby in replacing the American workforce with cheaper more compliant foreign labor. </TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1redoversmallheader vAlign=top align=left>P.S. We can triple our membership quickly if our members email their friends about us and they in turn email theirs. Polls show that most Americans agree with NumbersUSA's positions but, despite our recent rapid growth, most American voters still have never heard of us. You can help change that by forwarding this email widely. (Note: depending on your email provider, you may need to send this as an "attachment.") </TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1redundersmallfooter vAlign=top align=left colSpan=2>This may be a good time for you to make sure that you've let us know all of the areas you are interested in. In order to further customize the type of alerts you receive click here http://www.numbersusa.com/survey?action=longlist
As a NumbersUSA subscriber, you will receive occasional emails about immigration-related opportunities. If you want to increase or reduce the frequency of these emails, click here and choose from Total Activism, Moderate Activism, or Limited Activism at the bottom of your registration form: http://www.numbersusa.com/user
NumbersUSA - relies upon individuals like you to reach its goal of an environmentally sustainable and economically just America.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<IMG border=0 ="http://www.numbersusa.com/hub?action=sendImage&jid=6619&tid=373743&lid=9">
http://NumbersUSA.com
1601 N. Kent Street
Suite 1100
Arlington, VA 22209
Send a fax-Only takes a minute of your time
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=580 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1redunderbigheader>Dear Faxer:</TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1thinwhitespace><!--t3_approve --> </TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Tell your Congressmen that America doesn't need more foreign workers!
This new fax has been posted in your Action Buffet based on your answers to the Interest Survey.
You can find this fax by proceeding to
http://www.numbersusa.com/faxes?ID=9576
Both the Democratic and Republican leadership of U.S. House and Senate are right now conspiring to bring legislation to the floor to greatly expand the pool of foreign labor in this country -- even as they talk about the need for taxpayers to provide more unemployment compensation for all the Americans who are losing their jobs.
CEOs and lobbying interests for big business are clamoring for more foreign workers, and it seems that Congress is listening. THIS MUST BE STOPPED!
Send a fax to your Congressmen and make sure they know that America has plenty of unemployed workers to fill any open jobs.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1redoversmallheader vAlign=top align=left colSpan=2>Do you want more or less information?</TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1redundersmallfooter vAlign=top align=left colSpan=2>As a NumbersUSA subscriber, you will receive occasional emails about immigration-related opportunities. If you want to increase or reduce the frequency of these emails, click here and choose from Total Activism, Moderate Activism, or Limited Activism at the bottom of your registration form: http://www.numbersusa.com/user
NumbersUSA - relies upon individuals like you to reach its goal of an environmentally sustainable and economically just America.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<IMG border=0 ="http://www.numbersusa.com/hub?action=sendImage&jid=6632&tid=373743&lid=9">
Numbers USA
1601 N. Kent Street
Suite 1100
Arlington, VA 22209
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=580 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
This new fax has been posted in your Action Buffet based on your answers to the Interest Survey.
You can find this fax by proceeding to
http://www.numbersusa.com/faxes?ID=9576
Both the Democratic and Republican leadership of U.S. House and Senate are right now conspiring to bring legislation to the floor to greatly expand the pool of foreign labor in this country -- even as they talk about the need for taxpayers to provide more unemployment compensation for all the Americans who are losing their jobs.
CEOs and lobbying interests for big business are clamoring for more foreign workers, and it seems that Congress is listening. THIS MUST BE STOPPED!
Send a fax to your Congressmen and make sure they know that America has plenty of unemployed workers to fill any open jobs.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1redoversmallheader vAlign=top align=left colSpan=2>Do you want more or less information?</TD></TR><TR><TD class=t1redundersmallfooter vAlign=top align=left colSpan=2>As a NumbersUSA subscriber, you will receive occasional emails about immigration-related opportunities. If you want to increase or reduce the frequency of these emails, click here and choose from Total Activism, Moderate Activism, or Limited Activism at the bottom of your registration form: http://www.numbersusa.com/user
NumbersUSA - relies upon individuals like you to reach its goal of an environmentally sustainable and economically just America.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<IMG border=0 ="http://www.numbersusa.com/hub?action=sendImage&jid=6632&tid=373743&lid=9">
Numbers USA
1601 N. Kent Street
Suite 1100
Arlington, VA 22209
