Flake and Gutierrez Offer Amnesty Bill

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) have proposed legislation, H.R. 1645, to give legal status to 10 million or more illegal aliens and put them on the pathway to citizenship. To qualify, illegals would have to pay a fine of $2,000 and some back taxes, have a criminal background check, and learn some English and U.S. civics.

The congressmen offered their legislation despite a report by the Government Accountability Office that our immigration service, the USCIS, barely can handle the workload it has now, let alone administer a program of the magnitude that they propose. H.R. 1645 also would admit an additional 400,000 "guest workers" per year — this at a time when a number of economists are predicting a recession.

To contact your House member to oppose H.R. 1645, visit AIC's Legislative Action Center

Goodlatte Proposes to End Visa Lottery

Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) has introduced legislation, H.R. 1430, to end the immigrant visa lottery. This program admits 50,000 immigrants per year on the basis of wining a lottery draw. Thus, as the congressman explains, a foreigner can settle in the United States, not because he has skills we need or family ties here, but simply because of "pure luck."

He also criticized the program for lacking effective security. Said Goodlatte, "The nature of the lottery is such that we have no control over who applies for admission to our nation. . . . Those in this world who wish us harm can easily engage in this statistical with nothing to lose. Our immigration policy should be based primarily on our national needs, security and economics and not in part on an arbitrary system, lacking even cursory checks.

To contact your House member to support H.R. 1430 visit AIC's Legislative Action Center

Greenspan Advocates Lower Wages for Americans

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said that America needs more skilled immigrants to drive down wage levels of America's skilled workers. Greenspan proposed this because he believes that the growing inequality of income is a danger to our society. "Our skilled wages," said the former Fed chairman, "are higher than anywhere in the world. If we open up a significant window for skilled workers, that would suppress the skilled wage level and end the concentration of income."

The former chairman seems to be unaware that H1-B visas for foreigners are already depressing wages and decreasing opportunities for skilled Americans in high-tech fields such as engineering and computer programming. Actually the income gap is not among different levels of employees, but rather between employees and managerial elites — the class to which Mr. Greenspan belongs.

The gap is widening. Mortimer Zuckerman of U.S. News and World Report observed, "Some 85 percent of the nation's wealth now resides in the hands of the richest 15 percent of American families. The bottom 50 percent of families . . . claim only 2.5 percent of household net worth." Sources: Bloomberg News 3/14/07, U.S. News and World Report 6/12/07

Voters Push McCain to Change Tune

Few members of the Senate have more ardently supported amnesty for illegal aliens than Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). He and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) were co-authors of S. 2611, the Senate bill passed last year to legalize approximately 10 million illegal aliens and put them on the pathway to citizenship.

But as he campaigns for the presidency — and hears firsthand what Americans think about amnesty — the Arizona Republican is tailoring his view. In Iowa, reported The New York Times, McCain ran into "intensive questioning from voters on the issue [of immigration]." As a consequence, he modified his position to say that he might be willing to require illegal aliens to return home and only come back through legal channels.

Larry Smith, a Republican Party central committee member, said that "I have a hard time appreciating McCain's position at all on this issue. I feel he's been extremely weak. "When I go county to county visiting 29 counties in my area, I believe almost without exception that is that issue that puts fire in their eyes. They are just livid that we have allowed this to happen to the point it has." Source: New York Times (3/20/07)