Well, since no one has mentioned signing up at numbersusa I thought I'd share a fax I just sent:
Sen. Larry Craig
SH-520, United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Craig:
I implore you to carefully review the testimony of Rosemary Jenks, Director of Government Relations for NumbersUSA, that she made before Rep. Lofgren's House immigration subcommittee. She makes a convincing case against the many "comprehensive" immigration proposals circulating around Capitol Hill and provides a simple and painfully obvious alternative to those schemes.
Any legislation that rewards illegal aliens with a job and legal status is an amnesty. The "comprehensive" immigration proposals claim that they aren't amnesties because they do not grant "automatic citizenship" or because illegal aliens would have to "pay a heavy fine" and "learn English." But these conditions were also in the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act that everyone acknowledges was an amnesty - and a disastrous failure.
You have a horrible record on amnesty and appear to be set on voting for one of these "comprehensive" bills that would legalize millions of illegal aliens. Like most supporters of these "comprehensive" bills, you probably believe that the problem with the IRCA's enforcement provisions were never implemented. You probably believe that this time they would be. History tells us otherwise.
If you believe that enforcement will work in the future, why not let it work in the present? Over 200,000 illegal aliens self-deport every year because they find life as an illegal alien to be too difficult. Imagine what would happen if employers were actually fined and punished for hiring illegal aliens? How many illegal aliens would self-deport if true workplace enforcement were in place? According to a recent Center for Immigration Studies study, the illegal alien population would be cut in half within five years if such modest enforcement procedures were in place.
I know you are concerned about the cheap labor lobby, but consider this: If every employer who hired an illegal alien or applied for a foreign worker of any kind were forced to pay the public costs of that worker's presence in the United States, you would see a collapse of business pressure for amnesties and more green cards.
A "comprehensive" proposal is just the IRCA amnesty with a different name. They should be dropped into the dustbin of history and a new era of Attrition Through Enforcement should be ushered in.
Looking forward to your support,
Jeff Sandfort
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