Let’s be clear here, immigration reform bill is about illegal immigration. We keep hearing about this in terms of immigration which implies legal immigration, the problem primarily is with illegal immigration and that is what the discussion is about.

Here is a summary of yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee bill approved yesterday:

**A blanket amnesty for nearly all of the 12-20 million illegal aliens in this country.
**Nearly a doubling of greencards for permanent foreign workers and dependents every year, in addition to largescale increases in H-1B visas for foreign tech workers.

There is no significant enforcement strategy to control the borders in this bill other than what is currently happening (which is essentially nothing).

Here’s the Republican Senators who voted for this bill:
Sen. Specter (R-PA)
Sen. Graham (R-SC)
Sen. Brownback (R-KS)
Sen. DeWine (R-OH)

Here are the Republican Senators who debated against some of the measures within the McCain-Kennedy Amnesty Bill (as I said yesterday Sen. Kyl was the strongest opponent to this bill):
Sen. Sessions (R-AL)
Sen. Kyl (R-AZ)
Sen. Grassley (R-IA)
Sen. Coburn (R-OK)
Sen. Cornyn (R-TX)
Sen. Hatch (R-UT)

The debate continues today on the Senate floor. I am not optomistic with the Senate considering their focus is on amnesty for illegal aliens, not the protection of our borders. This still doesn’t preclude you from contacting your Senators and Congressional Representatives. My guess is the whole Legislative body will not come to a compromise and hope to sweep this under the rug so their voting records will not reflect their failure to protect our borders and enforce even the current laws on the books to control illegal immigration.

This is why it is important for you to continue to call and fax your legislators so this issue is not swept under the rug and to encourage your legislators to pass an enforcement bill for protecting the borders. Based on the protests going on by the pro-illegal alien factions it is clear any type of enforcement scares these people which tells me that enforcement is needed.

The Capital Switchboard is a number you can call to be directed to your Legislators: (202) 224-3121 or fax your legislators here. You can receive updates from Numbers USA and FAIR (Federation For American Immigration Reform).

Update 3/28 1:30pm: Here’s more information which I received from FAIR
General Amnesty (Graham R-SC, Kennedy D-MA Amendment)
**All 12 million currently resident illegal aliens would be permitted to apply for a work visa after paying back taxes and a $1000 penalty.
**The visas would last for three years and be renewable for three more years.
**After the forth year, these 12 million newly-minted legal aliens-their family members who will ultimately be permitted to join them pushing the numbers through the roof-would be permitted to apply for a green card setting them on a path for citizenship.
Approved 12-5.
Yesterday’s Villains include Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Mike DeWine (R-OH) who joined all Democrats by voting for the most sweeping amnesty in American history.
Cowardly Lion Award goes to Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) who was conveniently out of the room and did not vote.

Agricultural Worker Amnesty (Feinstein D-CA Amendment)
**All 1.5 million illegal alien agricultural worker would receive a new “blue card” that would allow them to remain in the United States as long as they work in agriculture for a small portion of two years.
**Following this period all of these 1.5 million newly-minted legal aliens-their family members who will ultimately be permitted to join them will at minimum double the numbers-would be permitted to apply for a green card, placing them on a path toward citizenship.
Approved 11-5 on a roll call vote (votes by Senators not immediately available, but mirror those of the general amnesty vote above).

Guests Who Never Have to Leave (Kennedy D-MA Amendment)
**Provides 400,000 new guest worker visas annually.
**New guest workers given renewable 3 year terms of work authorization.
**Following 6 years, the new “guests” may apply for green cards, placing them on a path toward citizenship if they can show that they are learning English and pass background checks.
Approved 11-6 by roll call vote (votes by Senators not immediately available but mirror those of the general amnesty vote above).

In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens Anyone? (Durbin D-IL Amendment)
**Repeals current law barring in-state tuition for illegal aliens unless the same benefit is made available to out of state residents.
**This will effectively require middle and lower income Americans to directly compete with illegal aliens for limited freshman class seats at state colleges and universities.
Approved by voice vote.

Decriminalize Visa Overstayers Anyone? (Durbin D-IL Amendment)
**Makes overstay of a visa-40 percent of all illegal aliens are visa overstayers-a civil violation and removes all criminal penalties.
Approved 11-6 by roll call vote (votes by Senators not immediately available but mirror those of the general amnesty vote above).

Final Bill Approved by Committee Roll Call Vote of 12-6

Voted For Committee Approval
Arlen Specter (R-PA)
DeWine (R-OH)
Graham (R-SC)
Brownback (R-KS)
Leahy (D-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Biden (D-DE)
Kohl (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Feingold (D-WI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Durbin (D-IL)

Voted Against Committee Approval
Hatch (R-UT)
Grassley (R-IA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Sessions (R-AL)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Coburn (R-TN)

Yep, as you can see this is a really tough enforcement bill for U.S. Borders. You can rely on your Senators to protect you. Now you can sleep at night just knowing how serious they are about protecting this country.