March 30, 2006

Thanks to everyone who has made phone calls and sent e.mails this week to Senator Bill Frist to insist that the Judiciary Committee's immigration reform bill get a fair hearing on the floor of the Senate. Thanks to calls from around the country, the bill is currently being debated by the Senate right now. But we've just won half the battle on that front.

Though the Judicary Committee's comprehensive approach to immigration reform is being debated by the Senate, the Frist enforcement-only bill (which is similar to the House bill, HR 4437) is being debated simultaneously. Senators will now have until April 6 to decide which approach they will support. On April 6, a week from today, the Senate will vote on final passage of one of these two bills, and will be amending both bills from now until then.

The amendment process over the next week will be important to the final result. Because Senator Frist forced the Judiciary Committee to finish their bill by an artificial deadline of this past Monday (which they met), many of the amendments we would have liked to have seen brought up during the committee process did not have time to be debated. We're keeping an eye on what amendments are going to be presented, and will get out alerts to you when we need your support.

In the meantime, it's important to get out a strong message to your senators that you support a comprehensive approach when it comes time to vote next Thrusday. Here's the message to send:

• I support the earned legalization program for the current 12 million undocumented workers in the US
• I support a guest-worker program that has a path to citizenship for those workers
• I oppose the criminalization of migrants, and of those who provide them with aid
• I oppose attempts to further militarize the border, and want to see better accountability measures for federal agents working in the region.
  Presenting these views to your senators will help strenghten their resolve to support the best possilble bill when it comes time to vote.

Additionally, we would like to ask those of you who have senators on the Judiciary Committee who voted for the bill that came out of committee on Monday to thank them for their principled stand. Those senators are:

Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
Joseph Biden (D-DE)
Mike DeWine (R-OH)
Herbert Kohl (D-WI)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Russel Feingold (D-WI)
Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Charles Schumer (D-NY)
Richard Durbin (D-IL)