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March 12, 2008

Take Action Against the SAVE Act

The National Immigration Forum has put out this call to action against the deportation-only approach to immigration reform epitomized by the SAVE act:

BACKGROUND
Republicans have filed a discharge petition to bring the flawed Shuler-Tancredo bill directly to the floor of the House of Representatives without allowing any Congressional committee to consider the merits or demerits of the bill.  This kind of political maneuver "discharges" a bill from the commiteee with jurisdiction over it and prevents amendments; effectively circumventing the legislative process.
WHY THIS IS WRONG
This back-door approach to legislating undermines the democratic process and shortchanges the American public.
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS BILL
On November 6, 2007, Rep. Shuler (D-NC) introduced H.R. 4088, the Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act of 2007 (the "SAVE Act").  The Shuler bill, which now has over 139 co-sponsors takes a deportation-only approach to immigration reform.   Anti-immigrant Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) is a co-sponsor of H.R. 4088, along with a who's who of the least immigrant-friendly members of Congress.
The bill will:
 Target minor children and families for detention and mandate the creation of a new family detention center modeled after the infamous T. Don Hutto Facility;
 Confiscate private land of citizens through eminent domain for building more fences which have already proven ineffective at curbing immigration;
 Increase militarization of the border through additional body armor and firearms for agents; and
 Impose a mandatory electronic employer verification program known as the Basic Pilot Program (re-branded as E-verify) on the entire American workforce. This highly controversial program lacks necessary safeguards to protect American workers from wrongful termination and improperly identify at least 2.5 million workers as ineligible for employment. The program would also destabilize the economy by immediately removing at least 7 million undocumented employees from the entire U.S. workforce at one time.
Hundreds of national, state, and local organizations representing business, labor, and immigrant communities have written to Congress opposing the flawed Shuler-Tancredo "SAVE" Act.
Tell Congress that bypassing the democratic process to enact legislation which affects millions of workers and families is against American Values and unacceptable.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND SAY:
PLEASE DECLINE TO SIGN THE PETITION TO DISCHARGE
H.R. 4088 THE SHULER-TANCREDO BILL
(ALSO KNOWN AS THE "SAVE" ACT) 
AND, IF YOUR REPRESENTATIVE IS A CO-SPONSOR OF H.R. 4088
PLEASE WITHDRAW YOUR NAME AS A CO-SPONSOR OF
H.R. 4088, THE SHULER-TANCREDO BILL
See if your Rep. is a Sponsor Here:
http://clerk.house.gov/110/lrc/pd/petitions/Dis5.htm
Your Representatives' phone number is online here:
http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/mcapdir.html
OR
CALL THE HOUSE SWITCHBOARD AT:
202-225-3121

bh

March 12, 2008 | Permalink

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Comments

You can also use this handy tool from Immigrants' list to write your representatives:

Kyle

Posted by: kyledeb | Mar 12, 2008 1:01:15 PM

'This kind of political maneuver "discharges" a bill from the commitee with jurisdiction over it and prevents amendments; effectively circumventing the legislative process.
WHY THIS IS WRONG
This back-door approach to legislating undermines the democratic process and shortchanges the American public.'

////

You could make the same arguments against last year's "clay pigeon" amendment strategy. I wonder if NIF did. If a 'discharge' strategy were used to try to pass CIR now, would NIF complain?

'Impose a mandatory electronic employer verification program known as the Basic Pilot Program (re-branded as E-verify)'

That is part of CIR, something Frank Sharry and NIF supposedly support.


'The Shuler bill, which now has over 139 co-sponsors takes a deportation-only approach to immigration reform.'

There they go again.
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2008/01/immigration-iss.html
So that's at least two different people from the National Immigration Forum using this misleading 'deportation-only' phrase. I guess it's official propaganda for this outfit. To the Frank Sharrys and Douglas Rivlins of the world, apparently any reform without amnesty/pathway is 'deportation-only'. 'Enforcement only' perhaps but 'deportation-only'? Isn't it obvious they use that because deportation is not a terribly popular concept with the public but enforcement is? There's just one little problem--not a single subtitle or section of the legislation has the word deportation in it! NumbersUSA is touting it as 'attrition through enforcement'. Which do you think is a more honest and accurate description?

http://www.numbersusa.com/interests/attrition.html

Posted by: Jack | Mar 13, 2008 12:51:37 AM

Many Members of Congress don't feel the need to sign the Discharge Petition to bring the SAVE Act to a vote. Why? Because they think their constituents have lost interest or are distracted by other issues.

Friends, we must change that impression immediately -- starting today.

One thing marks most politicians most of the time: They won't take a stand unless they feel like they have to. It really is up to all of you to make these politicians feel like they have to take a stand for keeping illegal aliens out of American jobs through the SAVE Act.

As of today, we only need 32 more to reach the 218 signatures required.

Ring the phones off the hook to get their attention.

Capitol Switchboard For All Representatives:
202-224-3121

Urge them to save the SAVE Act today!

Posted by: Taxpayer | Apr 14, 2008 8:44:00 AM

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