Immigration-Status-Quo Members of Congress Have Failed Us -- even if they have taken no bad actions
Our members are creating quite a stir in congressional offices around the country by challenging Members of Congress who can truthfully say they have taken no bad immigration actions the past 18 months.
Despite that supposedly clean record, we are charging these scores of congressmen with immigration behavior that is keeping millions of Americans unemployed.
NOT WHAT THEY DID BUT WHAT THEY DIDN'T DO
These congressmen and their staff want to know how in the world we can target them for this criticism when our very own Immigration-Reduction Grade Cards show that every single immigration action they have taken in this Congress has been pro-enforcement and hasn't added any numbers.
The simple answer is that our campaign is based on what these Members of Congress have NOT done.
Sure, in the few times that congressional leadership has allowed a vote on some small-impact immigration amendment, these Members have voted the pro-enforcement side.
But Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-Nevada) and House Speaker Boehner (R-Ohio) refuse to allow votes on any immigration matter of any consequence. That means the immigration status quo is guaranteed to continue.
(Look up the Grade Card of any Member of Congress here: https://www.numbersusa.com/content/my/tools/grades#tabset-1)
IMMIGRATION STATUS QUO IS ENEMY OF JOBLESS AMERICANS
If a Senator or Representative has not been co-sponsoring bills to change the immigration status quo, that politician has to be held responsible for all the Americans who are unemployed because 7 million illegal aliens are allowed to continue to hold construction, service and manufacturing jobs.
If they don't back bills to reduce legal immigration, they are supporting a status quo that adds another million foreign workers to the permanent legal workforce each year -- greatly increasing the competition to unemployed Americans for scarce jobs.
Nearly every Member of Congress ran for election in 2010 by saying that a top-priority for these two years would be to take actions to put Americans back to work.
The promise wasn't that they would act for the good of jobless Americans only if given a chance by congressional leaders. The promise was that they would do something.
DEMOCRATS MUST CHALLENGE SEN. REID -- REPUBLICANS MUST CHALLENGE SPEAKER BOEHNER
Democratic Senators elected Sen. Reid to run the Senate. House Republicans elected Speaker Boehner.
When Reid and Boehner stand like mighty dams to block the flow of any immigration legislation to protect American workers, we have to place the responsibility on the people who put them into their position of power.
Of course, we don't expect any one Member of Congress to be able to stand up to these powerful politicians.
But we DO expect them to individually take actions that -- when combined with those of other Members -- can apply enough pressure for the Senate Majority Leader and House Speaker to remove their dams.
Frankly, I would like to see Democratic Senators and Republican Representatives publicly disavow the top leader in their Chamber because of their preference for foreign workers (legal and illegal) over jobless Americans.
But that requires more courage and willingness to be punished by their Party than I can reasonably expect most Members of Congress to have.
Thus, all a Member of Congress has to do to improve his/her CHALLENGE STATUS QUO grade is co-sponsor bills that would increase immigration enforcement and bills that would decrease permanent immigration green cards. It is an easy, fairly quiet and safe way for a politician to send a message to the leader of the Senate or House.
MEDIOCRE 'STATUS QUO' GRADES INDICATE HUGE INSENSITIVITY TO PLIGHT OF THE JOBLESS
So, it you have a Senator or Representative with a CHALLENGE STATUS QUO grade of C or D or F -- when it is so easy to get a B or an A -- you know you have somebody who is really indifferent to the hardships of all the jobless Americans in your District and State who are just trying to get by.
And the ones we are focusing most of our efforts on are the ones with the C Grades. Why? Because it is pretty clear that they are not actively in favor of keeping Americans jobless (like the ones with the D and F Grades). It is likely that they haven't taken ANY bad immigration actions. So, these are Members who probably have consciences that can be stirred by their constituents.
But the fact is that our Grade Cards don't rate -- and neither should voters -- based on politicians' intentions.
These politicians with their C-Grades in CHALLENGING STATUS QUO have failed the 20 million Americans who want a full-time job but can't find one. And their constituents must this summer help these politicians see that they need to do all they can the last few weeks of this Congress to push Majority Leader Reid and House Speaker Boehner to remove at least some of the unfair job competition that immigration policies are causing.
Two very quick and extremely popular things they could do is bring to a floor vote bills to end the visa lottery and to mandate E-Verify for all employers.
Just those two actions might mean an extra million Americans working a year from now -- and at almost no cost.
AT TOWN HALL MEETINGS AND LOCAL CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES, CHALLENGE THE LACK OF CHALLENGE TO THE IMMIGRATION STATUS QUO
If you aren't signed up for Action Alerts from NumbersUSA, please do so now. (It's all free.)
Please pay attention to the alerts you get from us telling you about opportunities to confront the status quo Members of Congress with their poor record.
I can tell you from all the calls we are getting from congressional offices this week that your personal visits, phone calls and faxes can really grab the attention of these status quo politicians, once they know they are being watched this closely.
And, by the way, if you really like your Senator or Representative for other reasons, you owe it to them to protect themselves politically by getting their NumbersUSA grade up.
ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA