FAIR Alert: Speaker Declares House Will Not Conference with Senate Amnesty Bill

You have been calling for “no conference, no amnesty,” and now we are halfway there!  

Yesterday’s promise is therefore a key moment in our battle, one that never would have happened without your hard work this year! 

However, as encouraging as this development is, we must keep up the pressure to ensure that as the House moves through its step-by-step process, it only debates immigration legislation that puts the interests of Americans first. That means no small amnesties and no massive increases in immigration that unfairly flood the labor market.

On the very day Boehner committed not to conference with S. 744, he also reassured special interests:

“I’m trying to find a way to get this thing done. It’s, as you know, not easy. It’s not going to be an easy path forward, but I’ve made it clear since the day after the election that it’s time to get this done.”

On your call: 

1. Thank him for this important step he has taken.

2. Encourage him to keep all forms of amnesty and mass guest worker increases out of any piecemeal legislation passed by the House. 

Any amnesty or mass guest worker bill, comprehensive or piece-by-piece, is bad public policy because:

• Granting any legal status to illegal aliens unfairly rewards law-breaking.  Any form of legal status, including DREAM Act-style proposals, are just as much of an amnesty as a “path to citizenship,” and will do nothing but encourage more illegal immigration, just like it did after the 1986 amnesty.
• Granting amnesty and increasing the number of guest workers unfairly adds millions of workers to compete for scarce jobs when over 20 million Americans are either unemployed or underemployed.
• Guest workers benefit employers, not the U.S. economy or out-of-work Americans. Rather, guest worker programs lower wages and increases dependence on cheap, foreign labor.
• The U.S. already has the most generous immigration system in the world, admitting over 1 million legal immigrants annually, along with bringing in 800,000-900,000 guest workers each year. America needs jobs—not increased immigration!