Showing posts with label SAFE Act. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SAFE Act. Show all posts

Friday, August 5, 2011

Debt Debate Over; Time for Congress to Lower Immigration and Create Jobs for Unemployed Americans

An urgent post from www.NumbersUSA.com  about the easiest way to create jobs for Americans. This follows this post about religious groups pushing against immigration enforcement even though it leaves citizens unemployed when immigration is not enforced and  this post which shows that there are 30,000 openly illegal immigrants in the border town of El Paso, where President Barack Obama recently bashed immigration enforcement! On a related note, you can read about Miss Kentucky Latina here, an interesting article about Jessica Alba here or another article about Salma Hayek here. For more that you can do to get involved click HERE and you can read a very interesting book HERE!

And Remember when contacting public officials to please be firm but respectful. Any over the top messages could result in law enforcement action against you. Just let these senators know that you are aware of what they have done and that you intend to remove them from office in the 2012 elections.


Debt Debate Over; Time for Congress to Lower Immigration and Create Jobs for Unemployed Americans
 
https://www.numbersusa.com/content/my/action/board






By Chris Chmielenski,  posted on NumbersUSA



While the nation has been transfixed by the recent debt ceiling debate, 22 million Americans have continued their search for a full-time job. Now that a compromise on the debt ceiling has been reached, Members of both parties are promising to get back to work creating jobs. Yet their promises are hard to believe considering both parties have refused to act on one of the most pressing job-related issues -- lowering annual immigration levels.



A report in today’s Wall Street Journal brings some hope to the jobs market -- 114,000 private sector jobs unofficially created in July -- but if true, that number still falls short of the number of jobs needed for the 125,000 work permits issued to foreign workers each month by the federal government.



Over the last 12 months, our economy has shed more jobs than its created, but the United States continues to welcome new immigrants – even though we don’t have enough jobs for them.



Our economy’s inability to create jobs has had such a negative impact on employment that even illegal aliens are self-deporting and heading back to their home countries where job prospects are brighter. The Sacramento Bee reported last week that illegal aliens in California are heading back to Mexico where a 4.9 percent unemployment rate is healthier than the 9.2 percent rate in the U.S.



What Can Congress Do?



The Judiciary Committee, under the leadership of Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has already taken some action to deal with the ongoing jobs crisis. Two weeks ago, the Committee marked up and sent Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s SAFE for America Act (H.R. 704) to the House floor. This bill would end the Visa Lottery and immediately provide some relief to America’s unemployed without costing American taxpayers one dime.



The Visa Lottery issues approximately 50,000 green cards with work permits to foreign nationals with at least a high school degree, but there aren’t very many requirements beyond that.



The lottery hurts some of the most vulnerable Americans. According to research conducted by Dr. Steve Camarota at the Center for Immigration Studies, the U-6 unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2011 for U.S.-born citizens with at least a high school degree was 21.3%. That’s 4.6 million Americans with only a high school degree who want a full-time job, but can’t find one.



Also on the Judiciary Committee’s docket is Chairman Smith’s Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2164). This bill would also provide relief for unemployed Americans by requiring the use of E-Verify nationwide. Private employers would have to begin using the system for their new hires within 6-24 months (based on company size), while federal and state agencies would be required to use E-Verify for both new hires and current employees within 6 months. The Legal Workforce Act would ensure that new jobs only go to legal workers.



In addition, Rep. Smith’s Legal Workforce Act goes after the 7 million illegal aliens who currently hold non-agricultural jobs by re-implementing no-match letters and identifying Social Security numbers that are used multiple times.



The Costco Example



Congress isn’t the only body that can help out America’s unemployed. Retail giant Costco took a huge step in helping unemployed Americans last week by signing up for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s IMAGE program.



This voluntary program requires companies like Costco to 1) use E-Verify, 2) establish a written hiring and employment eligibility verification policy, and 3) submit to a form I-9 inspection. Costco joins 100 companies, including Tyson Foods, Hillsborough (Fla.) County, and Bacardi to voluntarily join IMAGE.



If you’re a Costco member, send them an email and thank them for looking out for America’s unemployed.



You can find more companies that use E-Verify by searching through our E-Verify database, but please keep in mind that our list isn’t 100% complete. Just because an employer isn’t listed doesn’t mean they aren’t using E-Verify.



CHRIS CHMIELENSKI is the Director of Content & Activism for NumbersUSA



NumbersUSA's blogs are copyrighted and may be republished or reposted only if they are copied in their entirety, including this paragraph, and provide proper credit to NumbersUSA. NumbersUSA bears no responsibility for where our blogs may be republished or reposted.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Ask your U.S. Representative to Cosponsor H.R. 704 to End the Visa Lottery

An urgent post from http://www.numbersusa.com/ about immigration enforcement in Texas. This follows this post about attempts to reign in Executive Order Amnesties. This follows this post about congressional redistricting and this follows this post which shows that there are 30,000 openly illegal immigrants in the border town of El Paso, where President Barack Obama recently bashed immigration enforcement! On a related note, you can read about Miss Kentucky Latina here, an interesting article about Jessica Alba here or another article about Salma Hayek here. For more that you can do to get involved click HERE and you can read a very interesting book HERE!

And Remember when contacting public officials to please be firm but respectful. Any over the top messages could result in law enforcement action against you. Just let these senators know that you are aware of what they have done and that you intend to remove them from office in the 2012 elections.


Ask your U.S. Representative to Cosponsor H.R. 704 to End the Visa Lottery
 
On July 20, the House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 704, the SAFE for America Act to end the visa lottery. The bill now goes to the full House of Representatives for a vote. Please send this fax to your Democratic U.S. Representative and urge him/her to cosponsor the bill.






The visa lottery gives 50,000 green cards to people without any regard to their humanitarian need or to what they might offer the country or to their having any family connections here. Considering that 22 million Americans cannot find a job, it is unwise to continue to allow tens of thousands of immigrants to come to this country without regard to their skills, education, or job prospects.





More information:





The visa lottery promotes massive illegal migration by people who think they may some day win the lottery and be allowed to stay in the United States. The late Barbara Jordan, as Chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, recommended the elimination of the visa lottery. A 2004 hearing of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims examined the visa lottery program and its susceptibility to fraud and abuse. At the hearing, witness Jan Ting, professor of law at Temple University, said that the lottery program is unfair because spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents often have to wait years for a visa, while the U.S. hands out 50,000 visas a year purely on the basis of a random lottery. Ting also noted that the lottery discriminates on the basis of ethnicity and race.





According to a Center for Immigration Studies report, the following people were given legal status through the visa lottery:





Hesham Hedayet, who killed airline personnel at LAX on July 4, 2002.





Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a U.S. Hamas leader who was detained for terrorist activities and deported in 1997.











Similar legislation was passed by a broad, bipartisan majority (273 - 148) of bipartisan members in the House during the 109th Congress as an amendment to the House's enforcement-only bill (H.R. 4437), received 59 cosponsors during the 110th Congress (H.R. 1430), and 61 cosponsors during the 111th Congress (H.R. 2305).

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Kill-Lottery bill vote tomorrow -- your final phone calls needed‏

An urgent post from http://www.numbersusa.com/ about the Visa Lottery. This follows this post about Congressional E-Verify. This follows this post about immigration enforcement in Texas. This follows this post about congressional redistricting and this follows this post which shows that there are 30,000 openly illegal immigrants in the border town of El Paso, where President Barack Obama recently bashed immigration enforcement! On a related note, you can read about Miss Kentucky Latina here, an interesting article about Jessica Alba here or another article about Salma Hayek here. For more that you can do to get involved click HERE and you can read a very interesting book HERE!

And Remember when contacting public officials to please be firm but respectful. Any over the top messages could result in law enforcement action against you. Just let these senators know that you are aware of what they have done and that you intend to remove them from office in the 2012 elections.

Kill-Lottery bill vote tomorrow -- your final phone calls needed‏



DEAR SUPPORTERS OF OVERALL IMMIGRATION REDUCTIONS,




The U.S. House Judiciary Committee votes tomorrow (Thursday) on what would be the first law to REDUCE immigration since 1924!!!!



It would be a small but significant step of killing the Visa Lottery and ending the practice of randomly selecting more than 50,000 new permanent immigrant workers every year from countries that have the least ties with the United States.



ACTION: Please call the Member(s) of the Judiciary Committee (in the list below) with whom you have the closest geographical or political connection.



Call Wednesday afternoon (or leave a voice mail message this evening).



Or call first thing Thursday morning.



HERE'S THE BASIC THRUST OF WHAT YOU NEED TO SAY:



"Please vote for H.R. 704, the bill to end the Visa lottery. This bill will reduce by 50,000 the immigrants that Congress brings in each year to compete with unemployed Americans.



"I urge you to OPPOSE every amendment that is being offered.



"Most of the amendments would just re-allocate the lottery visas to other categories. The effect would be the same number of immigrant workers competing with unemployed Americans.



"Do NOT re-allocate any of the 50,000 lottery visas."



Remember, the most important thing is to REDUCE overall immigration numbers. It is those astronomical numbers (one million legal immigrants a year) that drive most of our immigration problems in terms of jobs, the environment, congestion and government costs.



H.R. 704, the bi-partisan SAFE for America Act of 2011, has a great chance of passing the House and a decent chance of passing the Senate this year. But it has to get through committee without people re-allocating the visas. If the lottery is killed but the visas increased elsehwere, we would have to oppose the bill. Reducing the numbers is the most helpful thing we can do for the American people right now.



PHONE NUMBERS for JUDICIARY COMMITTEE MEMBERS



ARIZONA



REP. TRENT FRANKS 202-225-4576

REP. BEN QUAYLE 202-225-3361



ARKANSAS



REP. TIM GRIFFIN 202-225-2506



CALIFORNIA



REP. HOWARD BERMAN 202-225-4695

REP. JUDY CHU 202-225-5464

REP. ELTON GALLEGLY 202-225-5811

REP. DARRELL ISSA 202-225-3906

REP. ZOE LOFGREN 202-225-3072

REP. DAN LUNGREN 202-225-5716

REP. MAXINE WATERS 202-225-2201



GEORGIA



REP. HANK JOHNSON 202-225-1605



FLORIDA



REP. SANDY ADAMS 202-225-2706

REP. TED DEUTCH 202-225-3001

REP. DENNIS ROSS 202-225-1252



ILLINOIS



REP. MIKE QUIGLEY 202-225-4061



INDIANA



REP. MIKE PENCE 202-225-3021



IOWA



REP. STEVE KING 202-225-4426



MICHIGAN



REP. JOHN CONYERS 202-225-5126



NEW YORK



REP. JERROLD NADLER 202-225-5635



NORTH CAROLINA



REP. HOWARD COBLE 202-225-3065

REP. MELVIN WATT 202-225-1510



OHIO



REP. STEVE CHABOT 202-225-2216

REP. JIM JORDAN 202-225-2676



PENNSYLVANIA





REP. TOM MARINO 202-225-3731



SOUTH CAROLINA



REP. TREY GOWDY 202-225-6030



TENNESSEE



REP. STEVE COHEN 202-225-3265



TEXAS



REP. LOUIE GOHMERT 202-225-3035

REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE 202-225-3816

REP. TED POE 202-225-6565

REP. LAMAR SMITH 202-225-4236



UTAH



REP. JASON CHAFFETZ 202-225-7751



VIRGINIA



REP. RANDY FORBES 202-225-6365

REP. BOBBY SCOTT 202-225-8351



WISCONSIN



REP. JIM SENSENBRENNER 202-225-5101



With 22 million Americans unable to find a job, there is no need for the Visa Lottery that randomly doles out 50,000 visas to individuals with no special skills. These people will invariably compete with America's unemployed for the few jobs our economy is creating.



The visa lottery promotes massive illegal immigration by people who think they may some day win the lottery and be allowed to stay in the United States. The late Barbara Jordan, as Chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, recommended the elimination of the visa lottery.



Although the Democrats are most likely to vote against this bill, don't let them off the hook. Demand to know why they would support giving away 50,000 U.S. jobs a year through the lottery instead of letting the unemployed in their own District have those jobs.



PLEASE PHONE AS SOON AS YOU SEE THIS.



AND THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN PHONING IN SUPPORT OF THE BILL SINCE YESTERDAY.



WHAT'S NEW ARE ALL THE AMENDMENTS TO RE-ALLOCATE THE LOTTERY VISAS TO CHAIN MIGRATION AND BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT CATEGORIES. WE HAVE TO KILL THOSE AMENDMENTS.



THANKS.



-- ROY