- Carrying Capacity Network Alert -

Great New Moratorium Bill and Opportunities to Outlaw IDs for Illegal Aliens and
Stop Social Security Benefits for Illegals

Every year an immense flow of immigrants, now over 1 million legal arrivals and over 500,000 illegal aliens, pour into the United States and repeatedly undermines our environmental, budgetary, economic, and national security efforts. Fortunately, two promising bills have been introduced to address the problems we face with our current mass immigration policy.

Immigration Moratorium NOW!

Immigration reduction activists everywhere have an unparalleled opportunity NOW! to reduce mass immigration. The Mass Immigration Reduction Act of 2003, HR 946, was introduced on February 26, 2003 by Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) and several cosponsors. It would "effect a moratorium" for five years on most categories of immigration and strictly limit others. This would reduce levels of immigration from our annual massive influx of 1.2 million, to approximately 300,000 immigrants per year. Not only does pushing this bill give us an opportunity to greatly reduce the inflated legal numbers, but also helps us resist the onslaught of illegal alien amnesties. What the moratorium says, loud and clear, is: NO MORE MASS IMMIGRATION!

Best of all, by pushing this bill as our first priority, our chances of getting some reductions through Congress are better than they have been in years. But it is crucial that we all make a special effort NOW! to increase the momentum for this bill.

Why a Moratorium?

Only a comprehensive moratorium bill puts the open borders lobby on the defensive making them attempt to justify the whole enterprise of mass immigration– but quite simply, they cannot justify it. The bill itself would cut legal immigration numbers by nearly 75%. CCN and its ASAP! Coalition allies support this bill with an amendment to cap the numbers at 100,000 per year. This is the highest number we can allow to realistically achieve U.S. population stabilization.

• Passage of the bill would allow for the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services under the new Department of Homeland Security (formerly the INS) to take a "breather". The backlog of immigrants applying for permanent resident status is over 5 million and a moratorium would better weed out terrorists, criminals, and fraudulent immigrant applications.

• It would dramatically cut back on the "family magnet" that encourages more illegal immigration of relatives of legal immigrants.

• It would reduce the over $90 billion a year net (after subtracting taxes immigrants pay) cost of immigration.

• The moratorium would help the almost 9 million Americans who are unemployed by stopping the flooding of the labor pool with mass immigration. It would reduce the current depression of American's wages which Harvard professor George Borjas estimates to be over $152 billion per year.

• It would help stop bills that would amnesty illegal aliens and bills that would give them Matricula ID cards and social security benefits.

• A moratorium would allow U.S. officials to make better environmental policy. If the U.S. can achieve a stable population via a moratorium, it would be easier to meet cleaner air initiatives, such as the Kyoto Protocol, thus reducing greenhouse gases by 7% by 2012.

• It would increase downward pressure on immigration numbers in all categories, unlike bills which seek reductions in only a few categories.

"The challenge is enormous, and you have to talk about a moratorium. You can't talk about anything short of a moratorium, because, frankly, anything less will never get you one step closer to stabilization... If you just push a modest reduction, you don't get to first base. That's just the way it works in politics. Now I happen to believe in a moratorium. If I could wave a wand, tomorrow we would have it." – Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO), 1999

The Matricula ID – A Stealth Amnesty Push By Mexican Officials

Mexican officials have been trying any way they can to amnesty the three to five million Mexican illegal immigrants currently living in the United States. One devious technique is the "stealth amnesty"– the Matricula Consular ID Card. This ID, issued by Mexican Consulates in the U.S.A., (without background checks!), can be used to gain U.S. taxpayer supported services and benefits for Mexican illegal immigrants potentially including bank accounts, drivers' licenses, hospital services, and even welfare benefits. The fact is that only an illegal alien needs a Matricula ID; everyone who is here legally already has other U.S. government or state issued identification. Unfortunately, almost 800 police agencies and 74 banks already accept the Matricula card as valid identification. The acceptance of the Matricula is a defacto amnesty because it allows an illegal resident access to the benefits which U.S. government issued IDs allow to legal residents.

The acceptance of the Matricula Consular ID subverts immigration law and undermines U.S. sovereignty by allowing a foreign government to determine who can be in the United States and who can obtain U.S. taxpayer-funded benefits. The security risks in accepting a foreign identification look like a wish list for potential terrorists and criminals.

Fortunately, we can now fight back against the Matricula Consular Card. Congressman Tom Tancredo, Chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus, along with over 26 other members of Congress, have cosponsored H.R. 502 to ensure the security and validity of identification cards accepted by the federal government. This bill would ban the acceptance of identification cards not issued by a State or Federal entity for obtaining federal public benefits or services and to ensure the ID is secure and valid. The bill would also hold Federal officials and employees liable for accepting non-U.S. issued identification.

Urge your Congressional Representative and Senators to cosponsor H.R. 502 for the following reasons:

• Allowing continued use of the Matricula ID card reduces deportation risks for illegal immigrants and only encourages more illegal immigration and lawbreaking;

• All legal immigrants and U.S. citizens already have identification such as a visa, passport, or drivers' license, issued by a U.S. governmental agency. There is no need for another piece of identification, unless of course you are an illegal immigrant;

• One reason Mexican officials are lobbying for the acceptance of the card is to achieve a de facto amnesty for the three to five million Mexican illegal immigrants without having to wait for Congress to pass an amnesty. They should not be allowed to circumvent our legal process;

• The border patrol has caught illegal immigrants in possession of multiple Matricula Consular IDs with an assortment of names. Some illegal aliens carrying the Matricula ID were not even from Mexico! As the Center for Immigration Studies reports, "Mexico is not authenticating the documents used to obtain the Matricula against computer data files in Mexico.";

• If the U.S. decides to accept the Matricula ID cards it will open up the proverbial ‘can of worms' setting precedent for other nations to develop their own card for acceptance;

• The Matricula provides coverage for Mexicans living illegally in the U.S. and allows access to taxpayer funded benefits, such as, drivers' licenses in 13 states, hospital services, and some welfare benefits.

Bottom Line: We have the best chance in years to get immigration reductions. WE SUCCEEDED IN STOPPING ILLEGAL ALIEN AMNESTY BILLS THREE TIMES IN THE LAST CONGRESSIONAL SESSION. WE CAN GET REDUCTIONS IN THIS SESSION, BUT WE ALL MUST PUSH THE MORATORIUM BILL HARD! HERE'S HOW WE CAN SUCCEED:

1) Call, write, or fax your Representative, Senators and the Bush Administration. Urge them to support the Moratorium Bill, H.R. 946, & also H.R. 502, the bill banning the Matricula Consular card as valid ID. Contact information for your members of Congress is available at www.house.gov/writerep

2) Fax or call other organizations you support to make sure that they support the Moratorium Bill (HR 946) as their top priority. Ask for their written statements of support.

AND, IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO...

Consider that we can actually get reductions in this Congressional session. But, in order to maximize our chances, we NEED your Special Donations Today. Please make a SPECIAL DONATION in the amount of your average annual donation (or give a gift membership in this amount) or for as much as you can afford. If 90% of our members make such a special donation, we can greatly multiply our lobbying efforts and clout!

Let's get reductions in immigration and stop the amnesty bills, Matricula ID card use, and Social Security benefits for illegals NOW! Make your SPECIAL DONATION check payable to Carrying Capacity Network.

Come here to www.carryingcapacity.org for the latest information, research for activism, model letters, and immigration reduction talking points.
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