Immigration Reform: Life or Death?

34 Days to Obamacare : If you have not yet signed the online petition Don’tFundIt, go here. You will receive an email to confirm that you intended to sign the petition. As of 3 pm on Tues., Aug. 27, there were over 670,000 signatures, and counting. Let’s get that number over a million.

John McCain is on the wrong side. Again.

From The Hill today:

McCain: Next few weeks a 'critical time 

in the life or death' of immigration reform

Once the House of Representatives returns after Labor Day, immigration will likely top members' legislative agenda, Arizona's senators said at a town-hall meeting on Tuesday. 

“It will be a critical time in the life or death of this legislation,” Sen. John McCain, (R) said about the immigration reform bill the Senate passed in June.McCain discussed the bill with his junior colleague, Sen. Jeff Flake, (R) in their home state at a roundtable focused on the issue, hosted by The Arizona Republic, 12 News, and azcentral.com. 

McCain and Flake are both members of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight,” which also includes Sens. Michael Bennet, (D-Colo.), Dick Durbin, (D-Ill.), Lindsey Graham, (R-S.C.), Robert Menendez, (D-N.J.), Marco Rubio, (R-Fla.), and Charles Schumer, (D-N.Y.). The group wrote and championed the immigration reform bill through the upper chamber in June. The final vote was 68-32. 

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said he won’t take it up in the House.  

“I remain guardedly optimistic,” McCain said about the House advancing immigration reform. The senator said he hopes the House will pass legislation so the two chambers can go to conference and compromise on a single bill that will eventually go to the president. 

. . . 

Enhanced border security, an E-Verify system for employers and a pathway to citizenship for immigrants already living illegally in the United States are some of the notable provisions of the comprehensive bill, which is more than 1,000 pages.

Memo to the Gang of Eight: There already ARE pathways to citizenship in this "comprehensive" bill. And as Mark Steyn, pointed out in a recent NRO column,

“Comprehensive” today is a euphemism for interminably long, poorly drafted, and entirely unread — not just by the people’s representatives but by our robed rulers, too (how many of those Supreme Court justices actually plowed through every page of Obamacare when its “constitutionality” came before them?). 

Mr. Speaker, do not pass ANY immigration bill. Any bill that differs from the Senate bill will go to conference and get “fixed” behind closed doors. Just. Say. No.  Here are Boehner’s details again.

Butler County Office  PH (513) 779-5400

Miami County Office PH (937) 339-1524

Clark County Office   PH (937) 322-1120

D.C. Office

PH  (202) 225-6205

FAX (202) 225-0704

And his mailbox (send postcards):

Speaker John Boehner

7969 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, Suite B

West Chester, OH 45069

 # # #

Why ANY immigration bill in the House spells disaster

Tea Party Patriots to Speaker John Boehner: 

No. Immigration. "Reform." Bill.

Aug. 9-2013: Breitbart reports:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Friday that if House Republicans end up sending their collection of immigration bills to a conference with the Senate, Democrats and illegal immigration advocates would win.

“If we go to conference, we would win,” Reid told a Nevada radio station.Reid’s comments are the latest in a long line of Senate Democrats and House Republicans openly stating that the plan for amnesty for all of America’s illegal aliens rests in the House passing a group of immigration bills, then going to a conference with the Senate “Gang of Eight” bill.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), a member of the Gang of Eight, said on Wednesday that the House GOP piecemeal strategy is “OK by us” because the Senate would combine all the bills in a conference. 

“We would much prefer a big comprehensive bill but any way that the House can get there is okay by us,” Schumer said. “I actually am optimistic that we will get this done. I’ve had a lot of discussions with members of both parties in the House. Things are moving in the right direction.”

Schumer’s fellow Gang of Eight member, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), also recently pleaded with left-wing activists at the Center for American Progress, asking them to help get pro-amnesty lawmakers to a conference. “Get us to a conference," Menendez said. "In a conference, we can negotiate the notion of bringing all those bills together and get to common ground."

Conservatives are increasingly concerned that any conference between the House and Senate will be dominated by supporters of amnesty for the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants. The final bill, they believe, would look much more like the Senate Gang of 8 bill than any individual bills passed by the House.  

With his remarks, Sen. Reid seems to agree with that assessment. 

Here is an earlier CTPP blog with Amnesty Action plans. Keep calling, faxing, and sending postcards. 

The Immigration Bill: Why a Vote for Nothing Makes Sense

Dear Cleveland Patriot,

As you know, the destructive amnesty bill passed the Senate last week, with 14 Republican traitors supporting it.

Now the fight in the House begins, and this is a very important week if we are to win this fight. 

The members of the House are home this week for Independence Day.  They return to DC next week to hold a special meeting on the 10th to discuss immigration only.

It is important that they hear from us this week, before that special meeting on the 10th.

Our Message to Our Representatives

Don't Vote for Anything

Right now we are being told that the House has flat out rejected the Senate bill, and that the goal of the House is to pass legislation through a piecemeal approach, making border security and enforcement a priority.

While I'm sure we all agree that border security and its enforcement take priority, if a bill gets put through the House it will go to conference.  At this point, what started as a good bill could be distorted by combining it with the Senate bill, and do we really want more empty promises on border control?  If they would just enforce the laws that have been put in place since 1986, our efforts could be better spent on the priorities of Americans like jobs and the economy.

Also, once a bill reaches conference we, as citizens, lose much of our control.  Speaker Boehner will decide who takes part in the conference, and we all know that he will not pick a strong conservative.  Not to mention that Paul Ryan appears to have become the "Marco Rubio" of the House. Click Here to Read More

The only way to stop this push for amnesty is for our Representatives to vote for nothing, even if it's a border protection bill.

Why a Vote for Nothing Makes Sense

It's All About the Timing

The goal of the House is to have the immigration issue settled by the August recess.

If we can stall the process long enough, whereas nothing gets voted on in July, the issue will lose steam over the break.

When Congress returns in the fall, they will have the debt ceiling and the continuing resolution to deal with, flatlining the immigration debate.

Call Your Reps Today, and Every Day This Week

Please click here to find contact information for your Representative.

Please remind your representative that their job is to REPRESENT their constituents, not illegals and big business.

Remind them that the purpose of immigration policy must be for the benefit of American society.  Many illegals don't want amnesty. They don't want to be Americans, pay taxes and assimilate Click Here to Read More

Remind them that our government serves at the consent of our citizens, not the consent of aliens and their governments.

Remind them that there are already laws that, if enforced, would solve the border security issue (see Failed Timeline article here).  

h/t Marianne G