Monday, September 17, 2007

Defense Appropriations

I can't think of a better way to enhance a National Defense Authorization Act than to give amnesty to illegal immigrants. Wait. Let me read that again. What? What in the world does immigration have to do with a defense spending bill? The geniuses are at it again in our nation's capital.

From Liberty Pundit:

I don’t know how many of you have heard of NumbersUSA but they are a group that is leading the fight against Amnesty and trying to stop illegal immigration. Below is a copy of their latest email bulletin. It is important that we all act because something very sinister is happening. There are some measures being voted on in the Senate that would basically take all of the bad things about the amnesty bill that they couldn’t get passed in a “comprehensive” plan and instead they are now trying to sneak them by one by one. What’s worse is they are attaching them to a Defense Spending Bill. Here are the details and the email bulletin from NumbersUSA…

OPEN-BORDERS SENATORS PLAN END-RUN DREAM ACT AMNESTY

Friends, this is not a do-it-if-you-have-time request.

This is the most urgent kind of request for your action Friday – and again Monday.

Please send free faxes to your Members of Congress. You’ll see some faxes on your Action Buffet corkboard immediately. We’ll be sending you links to other new faxes during the day Friday.

In the middle of actions on Defense next week, the open-borders Senators are going to attempt to attach three proposals that would give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens and dramatically increase the importation of additional foreign labor for American jobs.

Many of the Senators who helped us kill the Comprehensive Amnesty in June are indicating they are in favor of these preferences for illegal foreign workers and new foreign workers over American workers.

We must keep them from attaching the Dream Act Amnesty to the Department of Defense authorization bill.

And we also must keep them from taking hundreds of thousands of our high tech jobs from American students and middle-age American workers and giving them to foreign workers.

Our NumbersUSA legislative department outlines these three threats in sections below.

THE QUICK MESSAGE YOU CAN GIVE TO SENATE OFFICE FRIDAY AND MONDAY

1. Call the Senate switchboard at:
202-224-3121

2. Ask for your Senator. (You can find the names of your Senators and all their contact info at: numbersusa.com/myMembers [or contact your Senators through the Senate's website.])

3. Tell the person who answers that you are calling to ask the Senator to vote NO next week on three measures that are being considered for the Defense Authorization bill.

a. Vote NO on Amendment 2237 that would attach the Dream Act Amnesty.

b. Vote NO on any measure to increase H-1B visas and permanent greencards for foreign workers to take jobs from skilled American workers and students.

c. Vote NO on any attempt to increase H-2B visas for seasonal foreign workers to take jobs from America’s most vulnerable workers.

* The DREAM Act (Amendment 2237 to the Defense Authorization bill) is a nightmare. It is a massive amnesty that extends to the millions of illegal aliens who entered the United States before the age of 16.

* There is no upper age limit. Any illegal alien can walk into a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office and declare that he is eligible. For example, a 45 year old can claim that he illegally entered the United States 30 years ago at the age of 15. There is no requirement that the alien prove that he entered the United States at the claimed time by providing particular documents. The DREAM Act’s Section 4(a) merely requires him to “demonstrate” that he is eligible-which in practice could mean simply making a sworn statement to that effect. Thus, it is an invitation for just about every illegal alien to fraudulently claim the amnesty.

* The alien then has six years to adjust his status from a conditional green card holder to a non-conditional one. To do so, he need only complete two years of study at an institution of higher education, including any vocational school. If the alien has already completed two years of study, he can convert to non-conditional status immediately (and use his green card as a platform to sponsor parents and other family members). As an alternative to two years of study, he can enlist in the U.S. military for two years. This provision allows Senator Durbin to claim that the DREAM Act is somehow germane to the defense authorization bill.

* An illegal alien who applies for the DREAM Act amnesty gets to count his years under “conditional” green card status toward the five years needed for citizenship. On top of that, the illegal alien could claim “retroactive benefits” and start the clock running the day that the DREAM Act is enacted. In combination, these two provisions put illegal aliens on a high-speed track to U.S. citizenship-moving from illegal alien to U.S. citizen in as little as five years. Lawfully present aliens, meanwhile, must follow a slower path to citizenship.

* It would be absurdly easy for just about any illegal alien-even one who does not qualify for the amnesty-to evade the law. According to Section 4(f) of the DREAM Act, once an alien files an application-any application, no matter how ridiculous-the federal government is prohibited from deporting him. Moreover, with few exceptions, federal officers are prohibited from either using information from the application to deport the alien or sharing that information with another federal agency, under threat of up to $10,000 fine. Thus, an alien’s admission that he has violated federal immigration law cannot be used against him-even if he never had any chance of qualifying for the DREAM Act amnesty in the first place.

* The DREAM Act also allows illegal aliens to receive in-state tuition rates at public universities, discriminating against U.S. citizens from out of state and law-abiding foreign students.

* The DREAM Act also makes the illegal aliens eligible for federal student loans and federal work-study programs-another benefit that law-abiding foreign students cannot receive-all at taxpayer expense.

* A consistent theme emerges: Illegal aliens are treated much more favorably than aliens who follow the law. There is no penalty for illegal behavior.

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