Senate committee passes deal on amnesty

Date: Sunday, May 18, 2008 8:01 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1866 -- 5/18/2008 >>>>>

In the previous newsletter I discussed how and why the Hispanic Caucus is
holding an increase in the H-1B cap hostage to a Comprehensive Immigration
Reform bill. (i.e. amnesty).

It's unlikely the Hispanic Caucus will get the CIR they want, but a limited
agricultural worker amnesty might be enough for them to compromise on an H-1B
increase. That compromise emerged last week when a Senate panel added an
immigration measure to the Iraq supplemental spending bill. Instead of giving
amnesty to all illegal aliens at once like CIR attempted to do, only those who
work in agriculture would get amnesty. That's why we sometimes call it Agjobs.

Agjobs is an attempt to pass an amnesty incrementally and quietly in order to
avoid the attention of the majority of Americans who don't favor amnesty. If
Agjobs passes, other forms of amnesty will soon be coming as well as big
expansions in H-1B and EB green cards.

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http://www.numbersusa.com/index

Senate Committee Passes Amnesty for Illegal Ag Workers

(May 16) At yesterday's markup of the Iraq supplemental appropriations bill,
the Senate Appropriations Committee committed an outrageous act of disrespect
for our men and women in uniform and to the citizens of this country by
adopting an amendment by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that gives amnesty
to illegal-alien agricultural workers. The amendment indicates a maximum of
1.35 million illegal alien ag workers could obtain "emergency agricultural
worker status" for a five-year period. Since their families also can obtain
this status, it is estimated that the total number receiving an amnesty would
reach 3 million. The committee also adopted other immigration-related
amendments, including one that drastically expands the H-2B visa program for
non-agricultural seasonal workers.

A vote by the full Senate may occur early next week, so please contact your
Senators now to urge them to work to strip the amnesty from the Iraq spending
bill on the floor, as well as the other amendments increasing immigration
levels.

Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121

The most important point to stress is that there is no need for an amnesty to
provide growers with workers. There already is an H-2A foreign ag worker
program that provides growers with an unlimited number of temporary workers if
the growers agree to pay a decent wage and ensure that they go home at the end
of the season. Feinstein is just trying to protect the abysmally low wages and
bad working conditions that farmworkers labor under.

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http://www.firesociety.com/blog/107/25398/Feinstein-pushing-for-amnesty.-Call-your-Senators-/

URGENT ACTION: Contact your two Senators, and forward this link to your
friends. Urge them to take immediate action with you!

Our Capitol contacts have just informed us that Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is
attempting to attach an amnesty amendment for illegal farm workers to the Iraq
supplemental appropriations spending bill.

Details are still coming in, but we do know the bill would provide legal
status to 1.35 million illegal aliens working in agriculture by granting them
five-year visas.
Tentatively called the Emergency Agriculture Relief Act of 2008, this is a
slight-of-hand, scaled-down version of Feinstein s AgJobs amnesty bill that
she had previously introduced.

We ve been told that her amendment could be voted on as soon as tomorrow
(Friday, May 16)!

Action Item -- Call Your Senators

We are asking ALL members of our team to take
immediate action by calling their Senators and
demanding they oppose the Feinstein amendment to the
Iraq Supplemental Appropriations Bill--or any other sly
move to increase the rolls of illegal aliens in the U.S.

Please call BOTH of your Senators. Without their support, Feinstein s
amendment may pass--opening the door to millions more illegals in our nation!

After calling, please forward this link to all of your friends and family who
share your deep concern for our nation. Urge them to pick up the phone and
call their Senators as well.

If they don t know the contact information of their Senators, they can call
the Capitol Switchboard: 202/224-3121 to be quickly connected.

This is an all-hands-on-deck alarm, and I m counting on every member of the
Grassfire team to deluge Senate offices with tens of thousands of phone calls!

We will keep you posted as news breaks.

Steve

P.S: Again, this amendment is just another attempt by the amnesty crowd to do
away with our borders. We must be strong and active to short-circuit this
latest underhanded attempt. Call today!

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http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/senate-panel-adds-immigration-measure-to-iraq-supplemental-2008-05-15.html

Senate panel adds immigration measure to Iraq supplemental

By Manu Raju
Posted: 05/15/08 04:06 PM [ET]
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday added to an Iraq spending bill
a controversial provision to help pave the way for undocumented agriculture
workers to win legal status, a move that may reopen the divisive immigration
debate on the Senate floor.

The so-called Ag-Jobs amendment, sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein
(D-Calif.) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho), would create a process that allows
undocumented workers to continue to work on farms. Without the amendment,
Feinstein warned that the U.S. would lose $5-9 billion to foreign competition,
tens of thousands of farms would shut down and 80,000 workers would be
transferred to Mexico. The bill would sunset in five years.

"Agriculture needs a consistent workforce," Feinstein said. "Without it, they
can't plant, they can't prune, they can't pick and they can't pack.

"This is an emergency situation," she added.

The amendment was approved by a 17-12 vote with defections from both parties.
Critics say the amendment amounts to amnesty for people who entered the
country illegally. A broader comprehensive immigration overhaul, with a path
for citizenship for the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants,
failed in a divisive Senate vote last year.

"No matter how one characterizes it, this enormous amendment still amounts to
amnesty," said Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). "I oppose amnesty. All these
immigration issues should be addressed through the regular order."

The committee is moving Thursday to approve three separate measures: one to
fund domestic priorities; another to provide $169 billion for the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan; and a third to alter President Bush's war policy.

The Senate plans to take up the bills next week, and is likely to reject the
war policy measure, but will likely approve the funding for the wars.

It is unclear whether Democrats have the votes to approve the domestic-
spending provision since a number of Republicans want to add their priorities.
The measure remains one of the few vehicles likely to get enacted before the
election in November. The addition of a slew of amendments could doom its
prospects in the Senate.

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