We really need your help making calls to these offices to keep the bad immigration provisions out of the 9/11 bill. We are getting reports from Democratic offices that calls are running 5 to 1 in favor of adding the Sensenbrenner immigration provisions to the intelligence reform conference report. FAIR reports a 30 to 1 margin of calls in to Sensenbrenner's office, but they are prone to exaggeration. Still, it's clear that this week is our last big push for the year as negotiations either will or will not advance right now. PLEASE circulate this action alert to your networks and make calls yourself. The call-in week starts today with the White House and Speaker Hastert, and continues through Friday with your own members. Thank you!

TAKE PART IN THE NATIONWIDE CALL-IN WEEK

NOVEMBER 30 - DECEMBER 3

Congress is coming back on Dec. 6th to possibly vote on an intelligence reform bill. We need to make sure that the final bill does not include the bad immigration provisions we have been fighting against. Scroll to the bottom for a short update on the bill.

TAKE ACTION TODAY!

In order to stop the anti-immigrant provisions from becoming law, your voice is needed! Please make two to three calls a day for the next four days:

* Tuesday, Nov. 30: Call the White House at (202) 456-1111 and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) at (202) 225-2976.

* Wednesday, Dec. 1: Call Rep. Hoekstra (R-MI) at (202) 225-4401 and Rep. Harman (D-CA) at (202) 225-8220. Call the White House if you haven't yet done so at (202) 456-1111.

* Thursday, Dec. 2: Call Sen. Collins (R-ME) at (202) 224-2523 and Sen. Lieberman (D-CT) at (202) 224-4041. Call the White House if you haven't yet done so at (202) 456-1111.

* Friday, Dec. 3: Call your own senators and representative. You can find your representative's information at: http://www.house.gov and two senators' information at: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm . Call the White House if you haven't yet done so at (202) 456-1111.

WHAT IS THE MESSAGE?

When you call, tell them:

I want you to keep the anti-immigrant provisions pushed by Rep. Sensenbrenner out of the intelligence reform bill.

The Senate-led compromise already contains border security measures; the additional provisions pushed by Rep. Sensenbrenner are extreme and were not part of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations.

I want you to enact the real recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, not the agenda of House immigration restrictionists.

Finally, tell them that we need comprehensive immigration reform-not non-solutions that will only drive people further underground and cause panic in immigrant communities.

WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE 9/11 BILL?

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Senate members of the conference committee devised a compromise that excluded the worst of the anti-immigrant House provisions but kept several "border security" measures, such as an increase in the number of border patrol agents and a mandate for federal agencies to devise minimum standards for the issuance of driver's licenses (in contrast to the more strident House ID language that would bar undocumented immigrants from obtaining state-issued IDs or using consular IDs).

This was not enough for Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who insisted on the inclusion of the extraneous immigration provisions. He was joined by Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) who objected to shifting intelligence authority and resources from the Pentagon to other agencies. Due to their objections, the compromise was pulled.

Since then, the White House has said it will work to get a bill passed this year. The conference committee leadership also wants a bill this year. Pressure is mounting to finalize the deal, but Representative Sensenbrenner is not backing down.

Congress will come back to Washington, DC for a short session on December 6th to vote on an intelligence reform bill if the conference committee can come to an agreement. We need to make sure that the White House, conference committee leadership, the majority of conferees, and your own senators and representatives (who will have to vote on the compromise measure) do not give in to Representative Sensenbrenner's demands. The President is key in this debate; according to media reports he supports the Senate compromise, but he must hear from us in order to stay strong and bring members of his own party into line.

TO SEND AN EMAIL OR FAX:

If you cannot call Congress and the White House this week, you can also communicate with them via email or fax. To do so go to:

Human Rights First

American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
for Congress
for White House

National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC)

YOUR VOICE IS IMPORTANT * TAKE ACTION TODAY