Make ‘No Amnesty’ the first message your Rep hears this Congress

Please go to your NumbersUSA Action Board this week and send a message to your U.S. Representative and President Obama that you strongly oppose amnesty for illegal aliens and any attempt to raise overall immigration numbers.

With various amnesty proposals currently being floated by prominent Democrats and Republicans from both Chambers and the White House, it is absolutely critical that the drumbeat for No Amnesty begins to echo through the halls of Congress. You can read more about the current legislative situation below.

https://numbersusa-staging.go-vip.net/content/my/action/board

Our Content & Activism team has been working closely with our Capitol Hill team to craft messages specifically targeted toward your U.S. Representative based on his or her past immigration voting record, political affiliation, as well as what arguments we believe will resonate most in each office. Those of you with newly elected Members will see special “Welcome to Congress messages.”

Every one of you will have an opportunity to fax President Obama as well.

Since every Congressional district was redrawn prior to the 113th Congress, our Tech Team has been working furiously to ensure that every one of you is properly matched with your current U.S. Representative. If you believe you are seeing a fax to the wrong Representative, please contact our helpdesk immediately.

WHAT WE ARE FACING

The threat level is high and will likely stay that way for months. This is not going to be a short-lived campaign. To be candid, we are in for a sustained, prolonged fight and our opposition is far more organized than it was in 2007 when we defeated the last massive amnesty proposal that was seriously considered by Congress. So you can expect that we will be coming to you with action opportunities frequently over the next several months. However, we will be making a special effort this Spring to ensure that you are seeing targeted, specific opportunities so we will not exhaust you. But don’t worry, we will be sure you hear from us every time you can help!

Our Capitol Hill team has been monitoring this situation since the morning after the election. The situation is still quite fluid, with priorities changing almost daily, but our current information suggests that the amnesty bill will start in the Senate. To that end, we will be paying particular attention to the Democratic Senators who opposed the 2007 amnesty as well all Senators who are up for re-election in 2014. Meanwhile, we will continue to focus on not only holding the line in the House but pursing opportunities to get a few good things through the House too. Although we were disappointed to lose Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) as chair of the House Judiciary Committee, we are hopeful and excited about the new chair, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) who has proven to be a real leader for immigration reductions. We also have reasons to be hopeful that the Immigration Reform Caucus under new leadership of Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) will be increasingly active in opposing the amnesty bill once it is introduced.

CONFUSION, CONFLICT, AND CONTROVERSY ARE TO OUR ADVANTAGE

In the race to comment on amnesty, we have seen wildly different statements from all kinds of Members of Congress. On the one hand, supporters of the DREAM amnesty (particularly Democrats) who were willing to settle for a small-scale amnesty last year appear to feel emboldened by the election and are now making grand promises about not settling for anything other than a massive, all-encompassing amnesty. On the other hand, several Republicans who came out in the days following the election expressing support for some sort of amnesty are now qualifying their statements, indicating support for smaller-scale amnesties that do not grant citizenship. You have probably seen articles this week mentioning Senator Rubio’s (R-FL) immigration proposal (not a bill at this point) and Rep. Ryan (R-WI) commenting on the Rubio plan. In the middle of all this, Members from both parties have come out saying that they doubt that anything will get done for many months because it will be too difficult for Members to reach any sort of agreement on the details of the amnesty. All of this is good news for us.

OUR SECRET WEAPON IS YOU

While political inefficiencies and partisanship may work toward our advantage, I would be highly nervous if that was all we had to count on. Fortunately, we have you.

You and the other 1.3 million NumbersUSA activists are what give us confidence that we can stop the amnesty freight train in its tracks. You are the lifeline of NumbersUSA and the voice we use to respond to the outrageous statements and proposals made by elected officials, the media, and other policy elites. In a time as confusing and politically dangerous as we are in now, it is critical to have a strong, experienced grassroots army committed to bringing stability and rationality to the situation.

Our opponents on Capitol Hill are now showing signs of fear that our 1.3 million activists will show up as they did in 2007 (when we only had 350,000 activists) and block amnesty. Let’s prove them right. Your fellow citizens and future generations are counting on you.

ANNE MANETAS is the Deputy Director of NumbersUSA