Immigration

In short, the AgJOBS amendment would require the Department of Homeland Security to grant “emergency agricultural worker status” (i.e., amnesty) for up to five years to as many as 1.35 million illegal aliens, plus their spouses and children, if the illegal alien:

Could show by “a preponderance of the evidence” that he worked 863 hours or 150 work days (defined as 5.75 hours of work per “work day”), or earned at least $7,000 in agricultural employment between January1, 2004, and December 31, 2007;
NOTE FROM NUMBERSUSA: In other words, the illegal alien would have to show that he was illegally employed in agriculture for a grand total of less than 22 weeks during a four-year period! And he can prove his employment history “by producing sufficient evidence to show the extent of that employment as a matter of just and reasonable inference.”
Filed an amnesty application with a “qualified designated entity,” or with DHS directly if he is represented by an attorney or a nonprofit organization, during an 18-month application period that would begin six months after enactment of the amnesty;
NOTE FROM NUMBERSUSA: No illegal alien is permitted to file an application for the amnesty without assistance from an attorney or an advocacy group—a “qualified designated entity” is defined as a labor or employer association or “any such other person” with “substantial experience” in filing adjustment of status applications.
Was not a known terrorist or convicted criminal; and
NOTE FROM NUMBERSUSA: Criminals would only be barred if they had been convicted of one or more felonies or three or more misdemeanors, so a couple of convictions for domestic violence or drunk and disorderly are fine, since those are generally misdemeanor offenses. And, of course, terrorists-in-waiting—those who have not yet committed a terrorist act or been caught with other known terrorists so they could be added to the watch list—likely would have no trouble qualifying for this amnesty, just as Mahmud Abouhalima, an illegal-alien cab driver in New York, qualified for the 1986 agricultural amnesty before going on to drive a bomb into the World Trade Center in 1993.
Paid a “fine” of $250.

Once an illegal alien met these minimal qualifications, he would be entitled to:

Bring his spouse and children here to join him, or legalize their status, if they are already here illegally;
Official U.S. government identification documents, including a valid social security number—with which he would be able to apply for a driver’s license—and a work permit (spouses would be allowed to apply for work permits, as well); and
Immunity from prosecution for committing social security fraud if he had been working illegally with a false or stolen social security number.

WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT’S NEXT?

Last Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee added several immigration amendments to the version of the Iraq Supplemental they were marking up.

The immigration amendments include:

First was the Feinstein AgJOBS-lite amendment, which passed by a recorded vote of 17-12;
Second was a Mikulski H-2B amendment--for the next three years, it would exempt from the annual cap of 66,000 any H-2B workers who were admitted during the previous three years. (The impact on the numbers could be exponential--they could rise from 66,000 in FY 2008 to over 400,000 by FY2011.) This passed by a recorded vote of 23-6!
Third was an amendment by Sens. Murray and Gregg to "recapture unused" employment-based visas from the past couple of decades. Since any employment-based visas that are not used in one year are added to the number of available family-based visas for the following year, there are no "unused" employment-based visas, and so there are none to "recapture." However, Murray and Gregg's deceptive manipulation of visa numbers would add an estimated 218,000 (total) employment-based visas to the annual cap of 140,000, until they are all used (again!). This amendment passed by voice vote.
Finally, Sen. Leahy offered an amendment to reauthorize the investor visa program. This, too, was approved by voice vote.

Go to www.NumbersUSA.com to send free faxes to your members of congress to stop the proposed amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. If you would like to call your representative, please call the Capital Switchboard at the numbers listed below.

Call Senator Schumer at 212-486-4430 or 631-753-0978 and Senator Clinton at 212-688-6262 or 631-249-2825.

CALL ANY SENATE OR HOUSE OFFICE AT:
202-224-3121

CALL THE WHITE HOUSE AT:
(202) 456-1111
(202) 456-1414