Friends and colleagues:
During a conference call last week with a nationally
respected and well-connected immigration lawyer who has met with Senator Reid
and Speaker John Boehner, we received further confirmation of several very
significant pieces of information:
1.
The Senate Bill ( S. 744) should be up for a
vote by the full Senate within 2 weeks. This is a much more rapid
schedule than we had anticipated, but seems to be a solid prediction.
2.
Speaker Boehner has confirmed that the House
bill will be moving swiftly as well.
3.
He also has confirmed that one of the most
conservative members of the House has drafted a bill that is quite similar to
S. 744, and that this is the bill that he is likely to support and move to a
vote in the House. (This does not displace the possibility
that the House “Gang of 8” bill may be the one to move first; that bill also
appears to be similar to S. 744.)
4.
Obama sees this bill as a defining part of his
legacy, so he is very supportive of the Senate and House efforts to bring a
final bill to a vote soon.
5.
Reid believes he has at least 60 votes for
passage, and may gain as many as 70 votes. Either way, the momentum
of S. 744 will be significant when it reaches the House.
6.
The core of the Republican Party has realized
that this bill has to pass for the Party to be able to compete for Hispanic votes on a
national level going forward. If the immigration issue is not
removed from the debate, the GOP will continue to see defeats such as Romney’s
happen over and over.
7.
The 1986 IRCA legislation that legalized 3
million people was a short range success but a long range failure because it lacked
a temporary work visa for manual laborers in year round jobs. IRCA
created an annual national limit of 5000 green cards for such workers (in the “Other
Worker” category), but that number was unrealistically low, and has been
useless almost from the start because the demand for those workers always has
been much higher than the supply of green card numbers in that category.
8.
In 2004-07, several bills were introduced in
both houses of Congress, but they never made it to a full vote, and many never
made it out of committee.
9.
The reason was simple: the
anti-immigrant forces were vocal and well organized, and members of Congress
received their messages daily and in great numbers. Some members
reported as many as 100 anti messages to each 1 message in support of those
bills!
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
You need to send emails to Senator Hagan and to
Senator Burr NOW! This vote will happen soon, and the discussions
over what position to take are solidifying right now.
Tell them that it is time for reform, and that S. 744
represents a good compromise on many, many issues that is long overdue.
DO NOT DELAY. THIS IS A HISTORIC MOMENT THAT
WE WILL NOT SEE AGAIN FOR YEARS, IF EVER.
WE MUST BE HEARD NOW, BECAUSE THE TIME IS NOW, AND WE
ARE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY!!!!
Thank you for your prompt action.
Regards,
Gerry Chapman
Gerard M. Chapman
Chapman Law Firm
P. O. Box 1477
Greensboro, NC 27402
403-A North Elm Street
Greensboro, NC 27401
Phone: (336) 334-0034
Fax: (336) 334-0036
E-mail: gerrychapman@chapman-immig.com
Website: www.chapman-immig.com
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