Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act
Another FYI~ No, I did not snope it.
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:12:45 -0500
Subject: Senate Floor Statement of Senator Sessions- (I was quoted)
Hi Gang:
As everyone knows, the debate is raging in the United States Senate about the insane immigration bill that was concocted by Senator Kennedy and a few other members of the Senate to legalize millions of illegal aliens whose true identities are unknown and ultimately, unknowable. This bill, if it was to become the law of the United States would represent catastrophic legislation that would greatly encourage huge numbers of illegal aliens to run our nation's borders and shield them from law enforcement. This would create a true national security and criminal justice nightmare whose implications would also hammer other aspects of the United States including the economy, health care, the education systems, the environment and other important components of our nation. This is why I have taken to referring to this legislative train wreak as the "Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act of 2007."
Last week the Washington times saw fit to publish a commentary I wrote about this legislation that was entitled, "Immigration bill, a 'No Go'." You can read that commentary at:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070622/COMMENTARY/106220019
Yesterday afternoon, my friend, Bruce DeCell, a founding member of an organization known as "9/11 Families for a Secure America" called me on my cell phone, I was out running errands with my wife and so I was not near a television set. Bruce was excited because he had been watching the proceedings in the United States Senate concerning the immigration bill. Senator Sessions from Alabama was on the floor of the United States Senate and was quoting my article from the Washington Times. Bruce held his phone to the television in his living room so I could hear Senator Sessions comments. I cannot tell you how gratifying it was!
You can read the Senate Floor Statement of Senator Sessions at:
http://sessions.senate.gov/pressapp/newrecord.cfm?id=277780
I have attached two portions of the Senator's statement below:
Senate Floor Statement of Senator Sessions
IMMIGRATION REFORM
Monday, June 25, 2007
"Mr. SESSIONS. Madam President, I thank my able colleague from Missouri. He is one of our most valuable and able members in the Senate. I value his thoughts on that and share his thoughts, actually.
I want to move off of that and some of the comments that Senator Dorgan had about working Americans and what they are facing today.
I remember addressing this point last year in the debate on immigration. I think it was at night when not many people were on the floor. Senator Kennedy was here. I raised the question of what was happening to wages of working Americans as a result of large-scale immigration, and quoted professors and experts who had demonstrated that where those areas--where immigration reached its highest levels, wages had gone down for workers; they hadn't gone up.
Now we are told that businesses cannot get workers, and we are told we are at full employment, but apparently something is awry if wages are not going up in many areas.
I want to mention to you what we have with regard to the immigration bill that is coming before us. We will have cloture vote on it in the morning. This is what I want to say to my colleagues. The legislation promises that it will bring legality to the system. They say we have an illegal system and we have got a comprehensive plan to fix it.
What does our own Congressional Budget Office say? They just did an analysis of it. The Congressional Budget Office looked at the legislation that is proposed. They made an opinion about how much it would cost the U.S. Treasury. It was about $30 billion over the next 10 years; not for the cost of enforcement, just the cost of additional social and welfare benefits provided to those who are here illegally, who will be made legal.
They made that analysis, and they also made one more analysis that is so stunning and so remarkable that I remain baffled that my colleagues have not picked up on it. What the Congressional Budget Office, our own budget office--a budget office that answers to the House, answers to the Senate, answers to the majority leader, Harry Reid, answers to the Speaker, Nancy Pelosi--the Congressional Budget Office concluded that net illegal immigration, after the passage of this bill, would only be reduced 13 percent.
Now what kind of reform is that, I ask my colleagues? I submit to you this is not a reform. A fix that is supposed to bring legality to a system that only reduces illegality by 13 percent. Last year we arrested 1 million people entering our country illegally. These are huge numbers. I would have thought we would want to see an 80 or 90 percent reduction of illegality at our border. This is a bill that by our own evaluation does not bode well.
There is another factor that many of my colleagues probably do not know, have never understood. My staff has worked very hard to account for the actual flow of legal immigration into the country. In the next 20 years, this country, if this bill is passed, will see a doubling of the legal permanent residents in America. That is the number of people who are given a green card. That is the next step to citizenship. Anybody with legal permanent residence can move on to citizenship. It will double the number of legal permanent residents, which is what we call green card holders.
So we are not going to have any reduction in illegality, and we are going to have a major increase--a doubling of legal immigration. I am worried about that. We have been talking here about this debate about card check and unions. What it is about is wages and fairness for American workers, is it not?"
_______________________________________________________
"That is a strong, crystal-clear condemnation of this act by the officers whose lives are on the line this very moment on our border trying to enforce our laws. Are we going to listen to them? Or are we going to listen to our mandarins, our masters meeting in secret, who plopped a bill down here, 700 pages long, that they say will make the system work? I wish it would. I even had hopes this spring, and I said so publicly. I was hoping they might make real progress. But I am afraid we haven't. Talk to the experts. Talk to CBO.
This is a another very significant, but discrete issue that I believe we should think about, and it is a weakness I had not fully comprehended until I read a piece in the Washington Times by Michael Cutler on June 21. He also participated in a press conference, a different one than the Border Patrol one, at the National Press Club on June 19. The event focused on the grave threat to national security the immigration bill represents. Mr. Cutler authored an op-ed in the
Washington Times last Friday entitled "Immigration Bill Is a No Go'' that focused on security issues raised by the bill. People are going to be invited to come in who are here illegally, give their name and so forth, and within 24 hours they will be receiving a legal status in the country, a probationary visa. It will soon be converted into this Z visa that people will have, but immediately within 24 hours, they will be provided that, unless something shows up of a serious nature in their background. But as these experts have told us, it is not possible to do a very effective check in 24 hours, as you can imagine. Even though you can do a computer run, it still has great weaknesses in it. So he focuses on this whole issue and says this:
If a person lies about his or her identity and has never been fingerprinted anywhere in our country, what will enable the bureaucrats at the USCIS--that is the agency that will be handing out the immigration benefits--to know the person's true identity? If the adjudicators simply run a fictitious identity through a computerized database, they will simply find the name has no connection to any criminal or terrorist watch lists.
I am quoting him now.
What is the true value? Remember, we are talking about a false name.
Let me continue quoting:
There is absolutely no way this program would have even a shred of integrity and the identity documents that would be given these millions of illegal aliens would enable every one of them to receive a driver's license, Social Security card, and other such official identity documents in a false name.
Undoubtedly, terrorists would be among those applying to participate in this ill-conceived program. They would then be able to open bank accounts and obtain credit cards in that same false name. Finally, these cards would enable these aliens to board airliners and trains even if their true names appear on all of the various terrorist watch lists and "no fly'' lists. That is why I have come to refer to this legislation as the "Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act of 2007.''
There has been a lot of talk in this Senate about Mexico's consulates throughout the United States issuing matricula cards and that these matricula cards are given based on documents that nobody knows for sure how good they are. Therefore, the cards they have are not really guaranteed to be a valid identity, but they are being utilized around the country as legitimate identification. What Mr. Cutler says is the identification documents we will be giving out under this bill will not be any better than matricula cards...."
It is clear that the Senator is willing to listen to the advice of those of us who have meaningful experience in this critical issue. He could well serve as a role model for his colleagues. As you may know I have testified at 15 Congressional hearings since the attacks of 9/11. I have often half-jokingly said on occasions that I wish that they held "listenings" in Washington! Clearly Senator Sessions is listening! The citizens of his state should be proud of him and his commitment to our nation and to the concept of representative government. He is certainly entitled to the support of the citizens whom he so ably represents in the United States Senate! I had the distinct pleasure and privilege of meeting Senator Sessions when I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 12, 2006. You can read my prepared testimony for that hearing that was entitled, "Examining the Need For Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Part II" by going to the link below:
http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=1989&wit_id=5532
Interestingly, while Senator Sessions remained in the hearing room while I provided my prepared testimony and went on to ask me some questions, Senator Kennedy left the hearing room as I began my testimony and returned at the very moment I completed my testimony. Several days later I received an envelope from then Committee Chairman Arlen Specter who forwarded several questions to me from Senator Kennedy for ultimate inclusion in the Congressional Record. I have attached both Senator Kennedy's questions and my responses to this e-mail. I hope you will take the time to read this material.
All of us must pay attention to how our elected representatives do their jobs on our behalf. It is vital that "We the People" take an active role in making certain that we are, indeed, getting representative government. Democracy, as I like to remind people, is not a spectator sport! If your representatives are doing a good job of representing you, it is important that you let them know that you are pleased with the job they are doing. You should even consider sending them campaign donations when they are up for re-election. On the other hand, you must let them know if you are not happy with what they are doing and then, if need be, provide whatever support you can to those who run against them. This is the job all Americans must do!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-michael cutler-
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:12:45 -0500
Subject: Senate Floor Statement of Senator Sessions- (I was quoted)
Hi Gang:
As everyone knows, the debate is raging in the United States Senate about the insane immigration bill that was concocted by Senator Kennedy and a few other members of the Senate to legalize millions of illegal aliens whose true identities are unknown and ultimately, unknowable. This bill, if it was to become the law of the United States would represent catastrophic legislation that would greatly encourage huge numbers of illegal aliens to run our nation's borders and shield them from law enforcement. This would create a true national security and criminal justice nightmare whose implications would also hammer other aspects of the United States including the economy, health care, the education systems, the environment and other important components of our nation. This is why I have taken to referring to this legislative train wreak as the "Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act of 2007."
Last week the Washington times saw fit to publish a commentary I wrote about this legislation that was entitled, "Immigration bill, a 'No Go'." You can read that commentary at:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070622/COMMENTARY/106220019
Yesterday afternoon, my friend, Bruce DeCell, a founding member of an organization known as "9/11 Families for a Secure America" called me on my cell phone, I was out running errands with my wife and so I was not near a television set. Bruce was excited because he had been watching the proceedings in the United States Senate concerning the immigration bill. Senator Sessions from Alabama was on the floor of the United States Senate and was quoting my article from the Washington Times. Bruce held his phone to the television in his living room so I could hear Senator Sessions comments. I cannot tell you how gratifying it was!
You can read the Senate Floor Statement of Senator Sessions at:
http://sessions.senate.gov/pressapp/newrecord.cfm?id=277780
I have attached two portions of the Senator's statement below:
Senate Floor Statement of Senator Sessions
IMMIGRATION REFORM
Monday, June 25, 2007
"Mr. SESSIONS. Madam President, I thank my able colleague from Missouri. He is one of our most valuable and able members in the Senate. I value his thoughts on that and share his thoughts, actually.
I want to move off of that and some of the comments that Senator Dorgan had about working Americans and what they are facing today.
I remember addressing this point last year in the debate on immigration. I think it was at night when not many people were on the floor. Senator Kennedy was here. I raised the question of what was happening to wages of working Americans as a result of large-scale immigration, and quoted professors and experts who had demonstrated that where those areas--where immigration reached its highest levels, wages had gone down for workers; they hadn't gone up.
Now we are told that businesses cannot get workers, and we are told we are at full employment, but apparently something is awry if wages are not going up in many areas.
I want to mention to you what we have with regard to the immigration bill that is coming before us. We will have cloture vote on it in the morning. This is what I want to say to my colleagues. The legislation promises that it will bring legality to the system. They say we have an illegal system and we have got a comprehensive plan to fix it.
What does our own Congressional Budget Office say? They just did an analysis of it. The Congressional Budget Office looked at the legislation that is proposed. They made an opinion about how much it would cost the U.S. Treasury. It was about $30 billion over the next 10 years; not for the cost of enforcement, just the cost of additional social and welfare benefits provided to those who are here illegally, who will be made legal.
They made that analysis, and they also made one more analysis that is so stunning and so remarkable that I remain baffled that my colleagues have not picked up on it. What the Congressional Budget Office, our own budget office--a budget office that answers to the House, answers to the Senate, answers to the majority leader, Harry Reid, answers to the Speaker, Nancy Pelosi--the Congressional Budget Office concluded that net illegal immigration, after the passage of this bill, would only be reduced 13 percent.
Now what kind of reform is that, I ask my colleagues? I submit to you this is not a reform. A fix that is supposed to bring legality to a system that only reduces illegality by 13 percent. Last year we arrested 1 million people entering our country illegally. These are huge numbers. I would have thought we would want to see an 80 or 90 percent reduction of illegality at our border. This is a bill that by our own evaluation does not bode well.
There is another factor that many of my colleagues probably do not know, have never understood. My staff has worked very hard to account for the actual flow of legal immigration into the country. In the next 20 years, this country, if this bill is passed, will see a doubling of the legal permanent residents in America. That is the number of people who are given a green card. That is the next step to citizenship. Anybody with legal permanent residence can move on to citizenship. It will double the number of legal permanent residents, which is what we call green card holders.
So we are not going to have any reduction in illegality, and we are going to have a major increase--a doubling of legal immigration. I am worried about that. We have been talking here about this debate about card check and unions. What it is about is wages and fairness for American workers, is it not?"
_______________________________________________________
"That is a strong, crystal-clear condemnation of this act by the officers whose lives are on the line this very moment on our border trying to enforce our laws. Are we going to listen to them? Or are we going to listen to our mandarins, our masters meeting in secret, who plopped a bill down here, 700 pages long, that they say will make the system work? I wish it would. I even had hopes this spring, and I said so publicly. I was hoping they might make real progress. But I am afraid we haven't. Talk to the experts. Talk to CBO.
This is a another very significant, but discrete issue that I believe we should think about, and it is a weakness I had not fully comprehended until I read a piece in the Washington Times by Michael Cutler on June 21. He also participated in a press conference, a different one than the Border Patrol one, at the National Press Club on June 19. The event focused on the grave threat to national security the immigration bill represents. Mr. Cutler authored an op-ed in the
Washington Times last Friday entitled "Immigration Bill Is a No Go'' that focused on security issues raised by the bill. People are going to be invited to come in who are here illegally, give their name and so forth, and within 24 hours they will be receiving a legal status in the country, a probationary visa. It will soon be converted into this Z visa that people will have, but immediately within 24 hours, they will be provided that, unless something shows up of a serious nature in their background. But as these experts have told us, it is not possible to do a very effective check in 24 hours, as you can imagine. Even though you can do a computer run, it still has great weaknesses in it. So he focuses on this whole issue and says this:
If a person lies about his or her identity and has never been fingerprinted anywhere in our country, what will enable the bureaucrats at the USCIS--that is the agency that will be handing out the immigration benefits--to know the person's true identity? If the adjudicators simply run a fictitious identity through a computerized database, they will simply find the name has no connection to any criminal or terrorist watch lists.
I am quoting him now.
What is the true value? Remember, we are talking about a false name.
Let me continue quoting:
There is absolutely no way this program would have even a shred of integrity and the identity documents that would be given these millions of illegal aliens would enable every one of them to receive a driver's license, Social Security card, and other such official identity documents in a false name.
Undoubtedly, terrorists would be among those applying to participate in this ill-conceived program. They would then be able to open bank accounts and obtain credit cards in that same false name. Finally, these cards would enable these aliens to board airliners and trains even if their true names appear on all of the various terrorist watch lists and "no fly'' lists. That is why I have come to refer to this legislation as the "Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act of 2007.''
There has been a lot of talk in this Senate about Mexico's consulates throughout the United States issuing matricula cards and that these matricula cards are given based on documents that nobody knows for sure how good they are. Therefore, the cards they have are not really guaranteed to be a valid identity, but they are being utilized around the country as legitimate identification. What Mr. Cutler says is the identification documents we will be giving out under this bill will not be any better than matricula cards...."
It is clear that the Senator is willing to listen to the advice of those of us who have meaningful experience in this critical issue. He could well serve as a role model for his colleagues. As you may know I have testified at 15 Congressional hearings since the attacks of 9/11. I have often half-jokingly said on occasions that I wish that they held "listenings" in Washington! Clearly Senator Sessions is listening! The citizens of his state should be proud of him and his commitment to our nation and to the concept of representative government. He is certainly entitled to the support of the citizens whom he so ably represents in the United States Senate! I had the distinct pleasure and privilege of meeting Senator Sessions when I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 12, 2006. You can read my prepared testimony for that hearing that was entitled, "Examining the Need For Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Part II" by going to the link below:
http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=1989&wit_id=5532
Interestingly, while Senator Sessions remained in the hearing room while I provided my prepared testimony and went on to ask me some questions, Senator Kennedy left the hearing room as I began my testimony and returned at the very moment I completed my testimony. Several days later I received an envelope from then Committee Chairman Arlen Specter who forwarded several questions to me from Senator Kennedy for ultimate inclusion in the Congressional Record. I have attached both Senator Kennedy's questions and my responses to this e-mail. I hope you will take the time to read this material.
All of us must pay attention to how our elected representatives do their jobs on our behalf. It is vital that "We the People" take an active role in making certain that we are, indeed, getting representative government. Democracy, as I like to remind people, is not a spectator sport! If your representatives are doing a good job of representing you, it is important that you let them know that you are pleased with the job they are doing. You should even consider sending them campaign donations when they are up for re-election. On the other hand, you must let them know if you are not happy with what they are doing and then, if need be, provide whatever support you can to those who run against them. This is the job all Americans must do!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-michael cutler-
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