Monday, May 13, 2013

Call Today - employment-based visas under consideration in Senate Judiciary Committee!





URGENT Action Alert: CALLS needed MONDAY, May 13 & TUESDAY, May 14

On Tuesday, May 14, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be considering amendments relating to employment-based visas in the bipartisan immigration bill, S. 744. Judiciary committee members need to hear from people of faith across the country - not just those who live in their states - about the impact these amendments will have on our communities. Please call all day Monday and Tuesday.

Please call 1-866-940-2439 to speak with the office of a specific Judiciary Committee member.
Below is a sample script. If you get an answering machine, please leave a message. All day Monday and Tuesday staff will be reporting on the number of calls for and against each amendment to the Senators. More information on the amendments is below. NOTE: Please refer to each amendment by the sponsor's NAME and associated NUMBER.

"As a person of faith, I urge the Senator to SUPPORT all immigration amendments being offered by Senator Blumenthal, and Schumer #5, which would protect immigrant workers.

I also urge you to OPPOSE amendments that would hurt immigrant workers, specifically Sessions #3, Lee #19, Hatch #19 and #20, and Grassley #73 and #74."

*Please note that you likely will not be connected with your own Senator's office through this number, unless they are a specific Judiciary Committee member. This is the best way to raise our voices at this moment. Judiciary members know they are responsible to ALL of us as they consider amendments. Feel free to call 1-866-940-2439 multiple times to connect with all priority Judiciary members. The Judiciary Committee list can be found at www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/members.cfm, if you want to call directly.  To email your own Senators about Comprehensive Immigration Reform, click here.


SUPPORT

Senator Blumenthal's Amendments #7, #13, #17, and #18
These amendments would ban hiring discrimination based on national origin or citizenship status, provide whistleblower protections for temporary workers, ensure workers have the right to a pay stub so that they can prove employment status for the pathway to citizenship, and codify current ICE policy restricting immigration enforcement actions where labor violations have been cited, so a threat of raids won't keep workers from reporting abuse.                 

Senator Schumer's Amendment #5
This amendment would help workers change employers without the risk of losing their visa, and would provide an electronic monitoring system for the program.

OPPOSE

Senator Sessions' Amendment #3
This amendment would prevent any guest workers from entering the U.S. if the unemployment rate is 5 percent or more. This is such a low threshold that it could effectively keep all guest workers from immigrating to the U.S.

Senator Lee's Amendment #19 and Senator Hatch's Amendments #19 and #20
These amendments would exempt employers of temporary workers from complying with labor and employment laws, thus allowing them to violate the rights of temporary workers; and would limit the ability of individuals and groups from submitting a complaint about worker's mistreatment on behalf of a mistreated temporary worker.

Senator Grassley's Amendments #73 & #74
These amendments would restrict temporary workers (new "W" visa recipients) from renewing their visas, and would require all temporary workers to provide proof that they can and are paying for their own health insurance, which could effectively prevent almost all temporary workers from entering the U.S.


Follow the markup live at a link provided at www.judiciary.senate.gov. On Twitter, use #CIRmarkup,  #SJC (senate judiciary committee),  #timeisnow,  #p2c (path to citizenship).You can also tweet at Judiciary Committee members: @SenatorLeahy,  @SenFeinstein, @ChuckSchumer, @SenatorDurbin, @SenWhitehouse, @amyklobuchar, @alfranken, @ChrisCoons, @SenBlumenthal, @maziehirono, @ChuckGrassley, @OrrinHatch, @SenatorSessions, @LindseyGrahamSC, @JohnCornyn, @SenMikeLee, @tedcruz, @JeffFlake


For more information, go to www.interfaithimmigration.org