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.
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
