FW: ACTION ALERT - Senate Resumes Debate on Immigration Bill
Daniel Huang
Daniel Huang
Policy Advocate, Immigrant
Rights Project
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
1145 Wilshire
Blvd., 2nd Floor Los Angeles, CA 90017
Tel: (213) 977-7500 Ext.
237 Fax: (213) 977-7595
From: Belanger, Maurice [mailto:mbel...@immigrationforum.org]
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 4:17 PM
To: Belanger, Maurice
Subject: ACTION ALERT - Senate Resumes Debate on Immigration Bill
Date: June 26, 2007
To: Interested Immigration Advocates
From: Maurice Belanger
Senate Resumes Debate on Immigration Bill
The Senate voted today to return to the immigration bill. The vote was a procedural one, a vote on cloture on a motion to proceed. Sixty votes were needed and 64 Senators voted to proceed.
Tomorrow, they will start voting on amendments. You can find a summary and a brief description of the amendments as we understood them this afternoon on our Web site here:
http://www.immigrationforum.org/documents/PolicyWire/Legislation/110/SenateBillAmendments0607.pdf
The Forum’s reaction to the vote is here:
http://www.immigrationforum.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=914
An earlier Forum commentary about resumption of the debate in the Senate and the importance of this week is here:
http://www.immigrationforum.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=913
Calls Needed on Amendments!
We are going to need you to call. Forward movement for comprehensive immigration reform is extremely precarious. Talk radio, right-wing blogs, and anti-immigrant groups have been targeting Senators who have been supportive of this bill that they claim is “amnesty.” Anti-immigrant groups have run television ads, for example, in South Carolina targeting Senator Lindsey Graham (a Republican supporter of reform and one of the so-called “Grand Bargainers”), in Nevada targeting Majority Leader Harry Reid, and in Kentucky targeting Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. A Republican source close to the Forum recently reported that constituents who are passionate about stopping immigration are calling Senate offices “several times a week.” Democratic sources are describing similar experiences.
Regardless of your position on the bill itself, the anti-immigrant crowd is going crazy, and Senators need to hear from constituents who will stick up for immigrants.
For the remainder of the week, the Senate will consider a series of amendments. Some will be offered by restrictionist Senators bent on making the bill much more punitive or killing it altogether. Some will strengthen the bill, particularly in the way family immigration is treated. Even if all bad amendments are defeated and all good amendments adopted, the Senate bill will be far from ideal. The importance of moving forward, however, will be given detailed treatment in tomorrow’s update.
The Forum will send out alerts on amendments as we did in the last round of voting. Please call your Senators and/or send faxes. Following is the first batch of talking points. You can find the contact information for your Senators here:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Vote No on the Hutchison Amendment 1440
§ What to Say: “I urge the Senator to vote no on the Hutchison amendment number 1440 that would require undocumented immigrants applying for a Z visa to leave the United States to apply for their visa.”
§ What This Amendment Would Do: The Hutchison amendment would make Z visa applicants return to their countries of origin before obtaining Z visa status. In addition, it would require the spouses of Z visa applicants to also undergo this so-called “touchback” requirement. The legalization program in the Senate bill seeks to draw undocumented immigrants out of the shadows and have them register with the government with an appropriate mix of penalties and incentives. If they are required to leave the U.S. before gaining a status that will permit them to return, they will not participate, and the bill’s legalization program will be a failure.
Vote No on the Webb Amendment 1313
§ What to Say: “I urge the Senator to vote no on the Web amendment number 1313 that would narrow the scope of the Z visa program in the Senate immigration bill.”
§ What This Amendment Would Do: The Webb amendment would narrow the legalization program in the bill so that undocumented immigrants in the U.S. less than four years prior to the bill’s enactment would not be eligible. Those here four or more years would be evaluated based on a range of community ties. The Webb amendment would make the Senate bill less workable by leaving a large number of undocumented immigrants ineligible for the bill’s legal status benefits.
Vote No on the Bond Amendment 1255
§ What to Say: “I urge the Senator to vote no on the Bond amendment number 1255 that would deny legalizing immigrants who have Z visas from ever obtaining permanent residence and citizenship.”
§ What This Amendment Would Do: The Bond amendment would deny Z visa holders the ability to eventually become permanent residents, keeping them in perpetual temporary status until they can no longer work. At that point, they would become undocumented, as one of the conditions for maintaining Z visa status is continued employment.
Vote Yes on the Dodd Amendment 1199
§ What to Say: “I urge the Senator to vote yes on the Dodd amendment number 1199 that would allow more parents of U.S. citizens to come to the U.S.”
§ What This Amendment Would Do: The Senate bill removes parents of U.S. citizens from the uncapped “immediate relatives” category and places an annual cap of 40,000 per year on visas for parents. The Dodd amendment would increase the annual cap to 90,000—about the number currently immigrating to the U.S. The amendment would also increase the amount of time parents coming on visitor visas would be allowed to stay in the U.S. to 180 days. (The Senate bill only allows 30 days.) It also makes other changes to how parents are treated.
Vote Yes on the Menendez Amendment 1317
§ What to Say: “I urge the Senator to vote yes on the Menendez Amendment number 1317 that would increase the number of points family relationships would get in the new point system.”
§ What This Amendment Would Do: The Menendez amendment will modify the proposed point system so that immigrants who have family members here will have a greater chance of gaining enough points to qualify for immigration. It would also award more points to those who filed immigrant applications after May 1, 2005. (The bill otherwise voids the family immigration applications submitted on or after May 1, 2005.)
More descriptions can be found in our amendment description document. Take a look at that document to see what else will be coming up this week. You might also want to look to see if there are other amendments that are more of a priority for your organization, and communicate with your Senators about those amendments (if you do not have time to respond to this and other action alerts that will be going out this week).
We will send out another alert tomorrow afternoon, or perhaps earlier if the order of amendments changes before then.
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Maurice
Belanger
Director of Public Information
National Immigration Forum
Web: http://www.immigrationforum.org
http://www.communityresourcebank.org