Now: National Call-In Week to get Anti-Immigrant Parts out of Intell. Reform Bill

National Call-In Week (11/30-12/3) on Intelligence Reform Bill
Stop Anti-Immigrant Provisions from Becoming Part of the Bill

12/1/04--The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) would like to
share with its members the following action alert compiled by the National
Immigration Forum (see below). ADC shares the their concerns about
anti-immigrant provisions becoming part of the intelligence reform bill and asks that
you take part in the call-in week.

WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH THE 9/11 INTELLIGENCE REFORM BILL?

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Senate members of the conference committee
devised a compromise that excluded the worst of the anti-immigrant House
provisions but kept several “border security� measures, such as an increase in
the number of border patrol agents and a mandate for federal agencies to
devise minimum standards for the issuance of driver’s licenses (in contrast to the
more strident House ID language that would bar undocumented immigrants from
obtaining state-issued IDs or using consular IDs).

This was not enough for Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who
insisted on the inclusion of the extraneous immigration provisions. He was joined
by Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) who objected to shifting intelligence
authority and resources from the Pentagon to other agencies. Due to their
objections, the compromise was pulled.

Since then, the White House has said it will work to get a bill passed this
year. The conference committee leadership also wants a bill this year.
Pressure is mounting to finalize the deal, but Representative Sensenbrenner is not
backing down.

Congress will come back to Washington, DC for a short session on December
6th to vote on an intelligence reform bill if the conference committee can come
to an agreement. We need to make sure that the White House, conference
committee leadership, the majority of conferees, and your own senators and
representatives (who will have to vote on the compromise measure) do not give in to
Representative Sensenbrenner’s demands. The President is key in this debate;
according to media reports he supports the Senate compromise, but he must hear
from us in order to stay strong and bring members of his own party into
line.

TAKE ACTION TODAY!

Congress is coming back on Dec. 6 to possibly vote on an intelligence reform
bill. We need to make sure that the final bill does not include the bad
immigration provisions we have been fighting against. It has been our
experience that email or faxed communications to a Congressional office takes a day or
two to process, therefore due to the urgent nature of this, we ask that you
make telephone calls.

In order to stop the anti-immigrant provisions from becoming law, your voice
is needed! Please make two to three calls a day for the next four days:

-Tuesday, Nov. 30: Call the White House at (202) 456-1111 and Speaker of the
House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) at (202) 225-2976.

-Wednesday, Dec. 1: Call Rep. Hoekstra (R-MI) at (202) 225-4401 and Rep.
Harman (D-CA) at (202) 225-8220. Call the White House if you haven’t yet done so
at (202) 456-1111.

-Thursday, Dec. 2: Call Sen. Collins (R-ME) at (202) 224-2523 and Sen.
Lieberman (D-CT) at (202) 224-4041. Call the White House if you haven’t yet done
so at (202) 456-1111.

-Friday, Dec. 3: Call your own senators and representative. You can use ADC’
s website:
http://capwiz.com/adc/dbq/officials/
to find your representative’s and two senator’s contact information by
entering your zip code. Call the White House if you haven’t yet done so at (202)
456-1111.

Should you choose to send an email, Human Rights First has created an email
template at:
http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/refugees_911bill_whitehouse?source
=ga_adv

WHAT IS THE MESSAGE?

When you call, tell them:

-I want you to keep the anti-immigrant provisions pushed by Rep.
Sensenbrenner out of the intelligence reform bill.

-The Senate-led compromise already contains border security measures; the
additional provisions pushed by Rep. Sensenbrenner are extreme and were not
part of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations.

-I want you to enact the real recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, not
the agenda of House immigration restrictionists.

-Finally, tell them that we need comprehensive immigration reform—not
non-solutions that will only drive people further underground and cause panic in
immigrant communities.

For more information, contact Laila Al-Qatami at:

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
4201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20008
Tel: (202) 244-2990, Fax: (202) 244-3196, Email: adc [at] adc.org
http://www.adc.org



===================================================================
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights!
webpage: _http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org_
(http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/)
New York: (212)330-8172
Los Angeles: (213)403-0131


Please consider making a donation to the important work of National
Immigrant Solidarity Network
Send check pay to:
ActionLA/SEE
1013 Mission St. #6
South Pasadena CA 91030
(All donations are tax deductible)

*to join the immigrant Solidarity Network daily news litserv, send e-mail
to: isn-subscribe [at] lists.riseup.net

*a monthly ISN monthly Action Alert! listserv, go to webpage
http://www.actionla.org/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi?f=list&l=isn