Ultra Living is a new organization
being established to lobby congress to support
comprehensive immigration reform. Ultra Living will use
the Numbers USA model credited with successfully opposing comprehensive
immigration reform legislation.
December 18, 2007 Comprehensive Immigration Reform failed in the
US Senate because of conservative Republican talk radio and Numbers USA even
though 72% 78% of
national polls of Americans
favor a pathway to citizenship for migrants:
- A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll
taken last month of 1,007 people found that 78 percent of respondents
feel people now in the country illegally should be given a chance at
citizenship.
- According to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll showed differences are
not great between Republicans and Democrats on this issue, with 66 percent of
Republicans in the poll favoring the legalization proposal, as well as 72
percent of Democrats and 65 percent of independents.
- A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found a strong majority of Americans including nearly two-thirds of Republicans
favors allowing migrants to become citizens if they pay fines,
learn English and meet other requirements.
Numbers USA
tracked every twist and turn of the Comprehensive
Immigration Reform Senate bill. Its members
flooded the Senate with more than a million faxes, sent
through the organizations Web site. It supplied
arguments and information to senators opposing the bill. The bill had support
from the opinion elite in this country, but Numbers USA built a grass roots army, consumed with passion
for a cause, and used the power of the Internet to go
around the elites and defeat a disastrous amnesty bill
states the Numbers USA website.
Numbers USA initiated
and turbocharged the populist revolt against the
immigration reform package, said Frank Sharry,
executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a
pro-immigrant advocacy group. Roy Beck takes people who
are upset about illegal immigration for different
reasons, including hostility to Hispanic immigrants, and
disguises their message so it appears it is based on policy
rather than race based arguments or xenophobia.
Representative Brian P.
Bilbray, Republican of California and chairman of the
Immigration Reform Caucus, said, Were involved in
weekly discussions with Numbers USA and other
immigration control groups as part of a team effort.
Numbers USA had fewer
than 50,000 members at the end of 2004, but now counts
more than 447,000, with an increase of 83 percent since
January alone.
Turning to the next
phase of the debate, those members will push for
enforcement of existing laws and new measures to curb
the employment of illegal immigrants.
Our No. 1 legislative
goal is to begin a system of mandatory workplace
verification, to confirm that every employee is a United
States citizen or an alien authorized to work in this
country, said Rosemary E. Jenks, director of government
relations at Numbers USA.
Numbers USA keeps a
scorecard showing every vote by every member of Congress
on immigration related issues since 2089. The group
assigns a letter grade to each member.
Lawmakers who received
an A-plus were all Republicans and included
Representatives J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois and Tom
Tancredo of Colorado, a presidential candidate. The
lowest grades, F-minuses, went to Democrats including
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Joe Baca of
California, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus.
For tax purposes,
Numbers USA has two arms, an educational foundation and
an advocacy group that lobbies Congress. Together, Mr.
Beck said, they have a budget of $3 million this year,
but will probably raise and spend $4.5 million. Numbers
USA has raised money from individual contributors over the Internet.
As
immigration legislation stalls in a divided Congress, states and towns across
the nation are taking matters into their own hands, pursuing a range of measures
aimed at cracking down on migrants.
Driven in
part by election year pressures, politicians from Massachusetts to California
are drawing up laws and ordinances to limit migrants' access to jobs, housing
and government services. The officials argue migrants are
overburdening local schools and hospitals and straining public finances.
This year,
more than 500 pieces of immigration related legislation have been introduced in
state legislatures, and 57 of them have been enacted in 27 states, according to
the National Conference of State Legislatures. In April, Georgia Gov. Sonny
Perdue, a Republican, signed into law a bill that will restrict public benefits
and certain employment rights for migrants, starting next year. On Monday,
Colorado legislators passed similar measures.
Last month,
several Pennsylvania legislators introduced a package of bills that would, among
other things, prohibit public spending on services or benefits for migrants.
Several Pennsylvania towns are considering local sanctions against landlords
that rent to or businesses that employ such migrants.
We need to stand up and take action. We start with
Ultra Living.
We need to stand up and
take action because in every town, city and state, laws are
being passed to prevent migrants from becoming part of
America, work and citizenship. The elections of 2008
will determine the future of Hispanics in America. We need
to elect a Democrat to the White House and 9 more Democrats
to the Senate to pass legislation.
If you want to support Ultra Living, use the contact information below:
Jon Garrido
Jon@JonGarrido.com
602.244.1000
