This year’s legislative session is coming to a close and we’re digesting where we’ve been and what will happen next year. We know you’re talking to our Field Team and wondering what you can do to make sure we successfully stop an amnesty bill from making it to the president’s desk.
To that end, we at FAIR want to field your questions about this whirlwind year and what we expect in 2014. Submit them here on our blog in the comment section below, on Facebook or send us a tweet @FAIRimmigration. We will get back to you with a video message next week.
Here are some examples of questions we’ve received recently:
- When will Congress adjourn this year?
- Is the threat of amnesty over until the next election?
- When will the House take up immigration legislation in 2014?
The fight against amnesty and for an immigration policy that serves our broad national interests is not over. Let’s keep the lines of communication open and work together to improve our country through a lawful and sustainable immigration system.
5 Comments
I’m a liberal who voted for Obama twice, and I support you guys. But you are taking the wrong approach. You have to change your arguments and you have to change the media narrative. Is your main argument against “immigration reform” is that it rewards lawbreakers? Because that’s how it’s being reported in the media. And most Americans aren’t moved by that. You have to convince them that the real reason not to support this so-called “reform” is that it would unleash a tidal wave of foreign nationals in the country–all of whom will be seeking jobs.
Amnesty is not the dirty word it was back in 2007, and it only reinforces the false notion that the proposed legislation ONLY gives legal status to the 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants already here. Even my educated, liberal friends are shocked when I tell them that the Gang of 8’s proposal also adds millions of new visas every year, including those for low-skilled workers. The phrase “11 million” is thrown around so much in the reporting that many Americans think that’s what “reform” means.
You need to start telling the media that they have not just a responsibility, but an obligation, to report that this is going to give legal status to far more than 11 million. And remind them that we’ve had massive fraud in the country for more than 30 years with unauthorized foreign nationals using fake papers to get jobs. Anybody who has ever worked in a restaurant, hotel, meatpacking plant or on a construction site knows that foreign nationals use fake papers. By waiting five years for e-verify, we will be opening up the floodgates to millions of people around the world who will use fraudulent documents claiming they got in on the amnesty too. You have to stress the enormous backlash that will happen when the country is inundated with foreign nationals who are taking jobs from Americans.
Stop calling them illegal aliens; it just sounds hateful. But don’t call them immigrants either. The word “immigrant” has too many positive connotations for a lot of Americans. Call them foreign nationals–unauthorized foreign nationals. And you can refer to the Gang of 8’s proposal as the Foreign Nationals Jobs Act. (Too bad Congress spent almost the entire year trying to come up with a plan to get foreign nationals jobs.)
Denounce the crazy sheriffs. They just give our side more bad publicity and make martyrs out of illegal immigrants while doing absolutely nothing to stop these people from coming into the country. The only way to get serious about curbing illegal immigration is to crack down on employers who hire them.
Keep stressing wage suppression. Take a look at the comments on the New York Times website any time the paper runs stories about immigration reform. These libs are hopping mad about it. Just like conservatives don’t trust the unions that are backing “reform,” progressives are suspicious because the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is behind it. Liberals think this only suppresses wages.
Demand that the media change it’s polling questions. These polls asking questions about “reform” and a “pathway to citizenship” are not as straightforward as asking, Who will you vote for–Romney or Obama. Some people think immigration “reform” means cracking down on immigrants, not letting them in.
Thank you for taking the time to read my long post. Good luck.
Amnesty is Generally Considerred Horrifying By Most Legal Americans
I agree wholeheartedly! It’s an invasion.
2014 IMMIGRATION REFORM!!!
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