Urgent: Call Senators about anti-immigrantion bills

[pstans]

Thursday, March 2, the U.S. Senate will be debating and voting on immigration policy. One of the harshest, most damaging, anti-immigrant immigration bills ever to come before the
Congress will be introduced in the Senate TOMORROW. It is the Republican Sensenbrenner-King "Border protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (H.R. 4437)" that was passed by the House in December. THIS BILL MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO PASS IN THE SENATE!!

Every immigration service agency has sent out urgent requests to citizens to call their Senators immediately to ask them to oppose this bill and to support an alternative bill that faces an uphill battle.

Ask them to vote for the McCAIN-KENNEDY immigration reform bill.

In Iowa PLEASE CALL SENATORS GRASSLEY AND HARKIN NOW. Senator Grassley: (515)
288-1145 Senator Harkin: [phone].

Here is info on the McCain-Kennedy bill:
Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin hearings on one of the most difficult and divisive issues facing the country, immigration reform. Because immigration is a likely wedge issue in November's congressional elections, the committee's chairman, Arlen Specter, is attempting to make sure the hearings produce legislation that will not split Senate Republicans over this contentious issue.

Senators will choose between two basic approaches. The first, put forward in a bill passed by the House last year, focuses exclusively on border security and beefed-up enforcement of immigration laws. This is essentially the same flawed approach the US has pursued for the past 20 years. It has made illegal immigration more dangerous and has failed to improve our broken immigration system.

The second approach, proposed by Senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy, takes is more comprehensive and realistic. It establishes a program for guest workers to legally immigrate for jobs employers can't fill, and brings undocumented people already in the U.S. out of the shadows by establishing a path to legalization.

People For the American Way supports the kind of comprehensive immigration reform offered by Senators McCain and Kennedy. This proposal respects our nation's laws and national security needs while providing a means for people who contribute to our society to work toward citizenship. Over the next weeks and months, we'll update you on our work to reform the immigration system, in line with our commitment to the basic American principles of equality under the law and opportunity for all.

To learn more about the McCain-Kennedy proposal -- known as the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act -- visit http://www.pfaw.org/go/McCain-Kennedy .