Posted on 12/10/2003 1:28:20 PM PST by Klickitat
The country needs your faxes and phone calls immediately and steadily over the next few days.
Tom Ridge, the head of the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security, yesterday advocated legalizing (giving amnesty) to 8-12 million illegal aliens.
Click here to read the story titled: "Homeland security
chief endorses legalizing undocumented immigrants."
"Click for article"
This creates an immediate crisis that must be met with massive outcry -- like the outcry in August of 2001 that stopped Pres. Bush's July proposal for a massive amnesty for some 3.5 million illegal aliens from Mexico.
The most important thing is shoot this trial balloon down as fast as possible. Show the White House that this suggestion is outrageous and will be met with contempt from the majority of Americans.
More in a minute, but first the action.
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SEND FAXES NOW
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We just learned of this article in the last hour. Anne Manetas is at the computer writing text for faxes as I write this. Over the next two hours, you will start to see various faxes to Sec. Ridge, to the White House and to key congressional leaders who can put a stop to this nonsense.
Please send these faxes from:
"Send Fax"
If you go mid-afternoon today (Wednesday), they may not be up yet, but be sure to come back and send this evening.
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CALL SEC. RIDGE AND THE WHITE HOUSE......NOW....and for a week
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Your actions are the most powerful when they arrive immediately. I am sure that Sec. Ridge made his statement yesterday toin a fairly small audience in to a fairly inconsequential audience in Miami never dreaming that the whole nation would seem to be calling and faxing his office by 3:00 this afternoon. The faster the phones are ringing the better.
But if you are reading this after 6 p.m. EST Wednesday, please call Thursday. For that matter, some of you may want to call again on Friday and again next week. If you are reading this next week, your calls will still be great.
It will be important for Sec. Ridge and the White House to see that this is not a flash-in-the-pan protest but one that grows and continues over time.
Our Capitol Hill team will be working with key staffers over the next 24 hours to begin getting their bosses to send letters to Ridge asking him to recant. And those of you who are regular letter-to-the-editor writers will be called on to fire one to all newspapers that ran this story today.
What apparently is going on here is that the open-borders side is trying to regain some momentum after basically losing everything in Congress this year -- even though its PR machine repeatedly persuaded the NY Times and other commentators to declare that people of all sides were part of a growing, powerful movement that indicated some major amnesty would pass this year.
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THE PHONE NUMBERS
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*************************
Secretary Ridge, Secretary Tom
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC
20500
(202-282-8000)
*************************
President Bush, President George W.
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20500
(202-456-1414)
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WHAT RIDGE SAID
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Your calls to both the White House and to Ridge's office should refer to Ridge's outrageous endorsement of amnesty as being a terrible signal from the Administration.
Obviously, it is important to give Ridge the ability to back down gracefully. Because of the confused, garbled thinking in his statement last night, he has room to do so.
The first good sign is that Ridge did not make his comment in a prepared statement or before an influential audience. It was in a Q and A. Second, his actual description of what legalization would look like is full of contradictory ideas. To quote the news story:
"A man who identified himself as Miguel Arroyo of Aventura asked Ridge whether he supported immigration legalization and whether he thought it would benefit national security."
Ridge answered:
"The bottom line is, as a country we have to come to grips with the presence of 8 to 12 million illegals, afford them some kind of legal stus some way, but also as a country decide what our immigration policy is and then enforce it.
The story said that Ridge "said he thinks the body politic is about ready to address the issue of the illegal immigrants, who he said contribute to communities and Social Security and pay taxes. He referred to a growing number of bills that would grant residency to some of those living here illegally. He said one of these, which would require all illegal immigrants to leave the country before applying for residency, is 'not workable.' "
Ridge went on to say:
"I'm not saying make them citizens, because they violated the law to get here. So you don't reward that type of conduct by turning over a citizenship certificate. You determine how you can legalize their presence, then, as a country, you make a decision that from this day forward, from this day forward, this is the process of entry, and if you violate that process of entry we have the resources to cope with it."
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YOUR PHONE MESSAGE
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You won't get much time to talk. Have one or two things that you absolutely want to convey and say them. Be prepared to say more if given the chance.
I'm sure that from reading Ridge's statement, you already have thought of a number of things you want to say. I'm going to offer several points for you to choose from if you don't have your own. These are not in any particular order.
1. This talk of legalization of lawbreakers from the top security man in the nation is an insult and a threat to safety of every federal official charged with protecting our borders. It gives illegals the incentive to do ANYTHING to get across and claim this prize. And it may insight millions of new people to storm the borders.
2. Ridge has thrown in the towel on law enforcement and says nothing can be done about illegal aliens. In fact, Congress has passed a major law each of the last two years to deal with this problem. These laws have not yet been implemented. When they are, they will make it far more difficult for illegal aliens to live in this country and begin to force many to move back home. Why is Ridge pre-emptorily undermining the very laws he is charged with carrying out.
3. Ridge's solution seems to be that you give all illegal aliens now amnesty but change our enforcement so that any person who comes illegally in the future will be dealt with. If you can deal with future illegals, why not just start dealing with the ones already here? In fact, the 1986 amnesty of 3 million illegals was said to be a one-time-only amnesty under the exact idea that Ridge is suggesting. There was supposed to never be another million illegals living in this country. Instead, another 8-12 million have come in hopes of another amnesty.
4. Ridge's statement sounds like two different people were controlling his mouth. One person sounded like a top law enforcement official who said, "As a country (we have to) decide what our immigration policy is and then enforce it." But somebody from the cheap-labor lobbyists or radical, leftist open-borders groups got Ridge's mouth to say that all the illegal aliens here right now should become LEGAL. The fact is that 80% of the people in this country and the majority of the U.S. Congress knows what immigration policy is -- if you don't have a legal right to be here, you should leave -- and they want the head of the Department of Homeland Security to enforce that policy.
5. Unless Sec. Ridge backs away from these statements immediately, there is no reason for Americans not to lose full faith and confidence that he has their security at heart. He is supposed to be the man above all others who will enforce our laws to protect our borders and protect us from terrorists, criminals and masses of uninvited labor that steals from the wages and jobs of the American people. In this speech, he sounds like the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Insecurity. He is a chief law UNenforcement officer. He is saying that somebody ought to enforce immigration laws someday, but not now. He is saying that he believes he is incapable of enforcing those immigration laws entrusted to him and that the only solution is to reward all the lawbreakers with legal status.
6. Sec. Ridge seems to suggest that illegal aliens should be made legal but not have the right to citizenship. Is he proposing a new legal status that allows people to work and live permanently in the U.S. but with never a chance at citizenship? What is he suggesting?
7. Last week the Department of Homeland Security announced it was killing the NSEERS program that caused tens of thousands of illegal aliens from terrorist-sponsoring countries to leave our country voluntarily rather than appear at DHS offices to register. Now, Ridge says that he actually wants all illegal aliens to stay permanently and be welcomed as contributors to the Social Security system. Has the DHS decided that it no longer will enforce immigration laws.
8. 18 million Americans cannot find a full-time job, yet Sec. Ridge wants to keep 8-12 million illegal-alien workers and their families in this country working. What does he have against unemployed and underemployed American workers. Why does he seem to be waging a war against American workers instead of against foreigners who illegally enter our country and threaten our livelihoods?
We're talking about millions of people who came to stay...not to go home, even though some might.
They do work for lower wages, and that exact fact brings down wages for American workers. Ask any construction worker, ask any gardener, ask any nanny, ask the tile guys, the drywallers, the cement guys. Illegal aliens bring down American wages, and there's nothing good about that.
I think the Bush administration knows America doesn't want amnesty for illegals. They're just so hard-headed that they won't give up on it.
Public schools were segregated in 1952-60. Many citizens were denied basic civil and constitutional rights across this country, based solely upon skin color. Sorry, just because it was OK then does not make it OK now.
You going to break my leg and ship me back to Michigan for running a redlight or eyeing you as you walk down Michigan Avenue on a windy day.
Seriously, where are you going to get the resources to house and transport 10-15 million people back to Mexico and Central America. How are you going to raise all the kids born in this country that are US citizens after you deport their parents. Its easy to say put them on a bus and ship them back but you're crazy if you dont think most of them will be back across the border before we can complete the paperwork on their deportations.
What about the Canadians? They represent a greater security threat but they blend easier into the population...you going to give them a free pass?
Sorry but Tancredo cant tie his own shoelaces.
You be f-- idiot of the month! Your idea would create sympathy for illegals. I didnt think that was what your goal.
Yeah, but the Soviets had their guns trained on their own citizens to keep them from leaving. The Koreans have their sworn enemies (whom they are still technically at war)right on their border. I dont think we have been in a state of war with Mexico for over a 100 years. Try again.
You may not think much of Tancredo but he is the Chairman of the 60+ member Immigration Reform Caucus and he's only been in Congress since 1998 I believe, which is not to bad for a beginner. Can anyone else in Congress say this ?
A couple of other freepers have ran Tancredo down which have led to a flamewar. I really don't think we want to go there.
It is profitible for big businesses in particular. Why should I should pay my tax dollars to support illegal medical and social service bills so Wal-Mart and other companies can keep them here? And give their children citizenship because the mothers snuck in over the border and had the babies for free in U.S. county charity hospitals? The county charity hospitals in Dallas and Ft. Worth, Parkland and John Peter Smith, need Spanish translators in the waiting rooms because nobody speaks English. The whole thing is ridiculous and the Republicans are no better than the Democrats about it. Why is that?
We pay for it, we're turning into Northern Mexico, and nobody talks about it in public except the Azatlan types. Anyone that doubts this can wonder why everything is now printed in Spanish as well as English. It's being done and nobody says anything.
Great. So let's just boot out every American and replace them with immigrants. Once we have ethnically cleansed ourselves from our own country, the "work harder" crowd will have the earthly paradise they seek.
Exactly. When was the last time you heard of a Mexican Islamo Facist terrorist. Cant count that guy who arested over the dirty bomb plot. He was born in and raised in Chicago.
Some of these guys amaze me. Rather than spend money to track people from Islamic countries here on travel or education visas, they want to spend billions to hassle a few Mexicans who only want to improve their families standard of living. And I wouldnt be surprised if some of the kooks that go balistic whenever a gun nut is shot by the feds after a massive firefight are the same ones that want to use the illegals for target practice along the border.
President Eisenhower activated the National Guard to integrate the schools of Little Rock. So far you are 0 for 2 with "America in the 50s"- you might want to try writing about a decade you know a little better.
Dave, you're really out to lunch if you think it's only A FEW MEXICANS. And Mexico's economy depends on the hundreds of millions of untaxed dollars that are sent back home. We pay the taxes for that and all the other benefits because the Mexican government has always been notoriously corrupt in spite of all the natural riches of that country, and our companies like the cheap labor. In the meantime, the average American is noticing that his hometown is looking like Tiajuana and the new natives are a different 'culture'. But Wal-Mart's happy!
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