JIM SENSENBRENNER HAS BEEN PROVIDING SOUND LEADERSHIP AGAINST AMNESTY

Congratulations to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner for his brilliant analysis of the immigration issue in a news conference this morning.

Among the key points made by Chairman Sensenbrenner are these:

1) "What we need to do is to secure the border and to cut off the attraction of cheap jobs in the United States".

2) "[T]he Simpson-Mazzoli bill (in the 1980s) failed because the employer sanctions were never enforced. And unless we have good internal enforcement as well as border security, there will be people who will have a strong economic attraction to try to get around the fence or over the fence because there is no internal enforcement of the immigrations laws".

3) "[I]t’s always cheaper to hire an illegal immigrant than it is to hire a United States citizen or someone who is legally here with a green card".

4) "[A]mnesty is wrong, because amnesty rewards someone for illegal behavior. And the system that has been set up in the Senate will also result in gross document fraud, because if someone can prove they’ve been here illegally for five years, then they can get the reward of citizenship by doing a few things and paying $2,750 in fines".

5) "Ronald Reagan was honest when he called the legalization procedure (under Simpson-Mazzoli) ‘amnesty.’ What’s going on now, in calling it a ‘pathway to citizenship’ or ‘earned legalization,’ is not honest, because it is amnesty".

6) "The mistake of Simpson-Mazzoli is that amnesty was offered and employer sanctions were never enforced. And because employer sanctions were never enforced, only a third of those eligible for amnesty bothered to sign up, because they feared they’d lose their jobs by pricing themselves out of the market by legalizing themselves".

7) "The amnesty provisions in the Senate bill are almost a carbon copy of Simpson-Mazzoli".

8) "We’ve got a lot of employers that have been breaking the law in hiring illegal immigrants. They get amnesty under this bill (the Senate bill), too".

9) "The problem…is that more and more illegal immigrants are displacing American workers, because in many cases the illegal immigrants are paid in cash, they work for less. In some cases, the Social Security and state and local taxes have not been taken out. So an industry or a company that is dependent upon illegal workers is lowering their labor costs by 30 to 40 percent".

10) "I don’t buy the argument that there are certain jobs that Americans will not do. Americans will do and have done any job as long as they’re paid enough money".

11) "The Chamber of Commerce has adamantly opposed checking out existing employees…If we don’t check out the existing employees, then an illegal immigrant currently in the country cannot change jobs, because if they move jobs, they’d get checked out, and they would get caught. And that establishes a de facto program of indentured servitude for people who are illegally in the country in their existing job".

12) "I’m the first to admit that it’s impractical to round up and deport 12 million people, all of whom will have lawyers filing all kinds of motions in either immigration courts of federal district courts. With the border controls and the enforcement of employer sanctions, the jobs for illegal immigrants will dry up. And if you can’t get a job because employer sanctions are enforced, my belief is that a lot of the illegal immigrants will simply go back home voluntarily".

13) "[S]ecuring the border is not just an immigration issue. It’s a drug enforcement and national security issue, as well….I have seen figures that indicate that 85 percent of the illegal drugs on the streets of Chicago that are sold by gangs come across the southwestern border. So we’re not only dealing with the people problem, but we’re dealing with criminal enterprises, we’re dealing with a huge drug problem, and we’re dealing with a potential terrorism problem as well, because the border is not secured".

I urge you to contact your Senators and Representatives, urging them to back Chairman Sensenbrenner on this issue and to favor House immigration legislation, while rejecting that proposed by the U.S. Senate.

My dear friend, Otto Scott, has died at the age of 87.

His official biography states "Otto Joseph Scott, born Otto Scott-Estella Jr., age 87, passed away peacefully on May 5, 2006 in Issaquah, WA. Otto is survived by his daughters, Katherine Anne Scott-Estrella, residing in Tucson, AZ, Mary Nazelle Crispo, residing in Brooklyn, NY, grandson Alexander Widen, Phillipa Scott-Girardi (Stephen Girardi) grandsons Gabriel Molina, and Matthew Girardi, and Ann Elizabeth Scott-Hugli (Hans A. Hugli), residing in Sammamish, WA; grandchildren, Roxane Sri Hugli and Alexander Philip Hugli.

"Otto Scott was preceded in death by his wife of 34 years, Anna Barney Scott, in August 1997. Mr. Scott served in the US Merchant Marines during WWII, and had a successful career in advertising and as a journalist after the war ended.

"He then went on to pursue his lifelong dream of being a writer and was the author of ten books: The Exception, the story of Ashland Oil, James I, the fool as king, The Creative Ordeal, the story of Raytheon, Robespierre, the voice of virtue, The Secret Six, John Brown and the abolitionists, The Professional, a biography of J.B. Saunders, The Other End of the Lifeboat, The Great Christian Revolution, Buried Treasure, the story of Arch Mineral, and The Powered Hand, the history of Black & Decker.

"He made a living from his corporate biographies, yet achieved fame from his thorough knowledge of history and poetic use of language. Mr. Scott was also the author of Otto Scott’s Compass, a monthly journal of contemporary culture which ran for fifteen years, and was widely read by well-known conservatives".