Editors note:This is cross-posted from Potomac Tea Party Report. Remember S.744 is not just about illegal immigration, it will increase the number of refugees and asylees admitted to the US and give more of your tax dollars to refugee contractors and open borders advocacy groups.
It is not too late and NumbersUSA is reporting movement toward the NO column by some Senators.
Call all evening and early in the morning too! Final cloture vote likely in the morning.
Here is another number you can use to call your Senators if the one below is jammed: 888-995-8349
Here is the latest from NumbersUSA:
IN THIS ALERT:
~Senate phone lines jammed with anti-amnesty calls — some phone alternatives — keep it up
~Chambliss, Chiesa, Enzi & Wicker joined our side in procedural cloture vote this aft — up to 33 and growing
~Red-state Dems take callous view toward struggling workers in their state — especially Black Americans
~Media coming to grips with bruising Senate battle making House far less receptive to amnesty this year
~Send Immigration Grade Cards to the Senators who are so proud of themselves for engineering a massive increase in foreign labor.
Please keep phoning Senators the rest of the afternoon. The Senate switchboard and individual office phones are often jammed, so just keep trying.
ACTION 1: Refer to the alert I sent you this morning for the toll-free number into individual Senators’ offices. [That is this number: 888-995-8349]
ACTION 2: If that or the 202-224-3121 switchboard number can’t get you through, go to our directory for all DC and home-state office phone numbers and use one or more of those. It is important that the staffs of these Senators do little else but answer phone calls opposing S. 744 today.
Chambliss, Chiesa, Enzi & Wicker joined our side in procedural cloture vote this afternoon
Those of you in Georgia, New Jersey, Wyoming and Mississippi, call and give heartfelt thanks to these four who on an interim cloture vote this afternoon joined the Senators who had also voted on the anti-amnesty side on Monday. (The key cloture vote happens tomorrow).
That brings to 33 the Senators who have been willing to vote to just end the whole process on S. 744 before getting to a final vote. That is up from only 15 who would take that stand nine days ago.
The Alert continues. Sign up here to receive these Alerts directly from NumbersUSA as this travesty moves forward in Washington.
We want more immigrants in Maine and in America because Thomas Jefferson said that’s good for America! (Or I think he did! Well, sort of!). King opened afloor speechlast week with words from Jefferson that frankly I read three or four times and couldn’t figure out how the words fit today’s immigration situation, especially when one considers the large number of Muslim immigrants entering the US and Maine.
Indeed Jefferson, of all people, knew what violence Muslims were capable of. He would never have ‘welcomed’ Muslims to America, but maybe King doesn’t know about theBarbary Wars.
Here are a couple of excerpts from King’s speech on S.744:
Vibrant refugee? Portland Somali convicted of rape after breaking into woman’s home while she slept. King: Immigrants are a little scary!
Does this discussion affect the State of Maine? Well, yes, it does. We have migrants and immigrants picking our crops in northern Maine, blueberries and potatoes and broccoli. We have a vibrant refugee and asylum-seeking community in Portland, ME, and in Lewiston. Many of those from Africa come here with very different cultures.We have 52 languages spoken in the Portland public schools. Yes, we have strains and difficulties adjusting one culture to another. But we are making it work and it is making our State richer spiritually, culturally, intellectually, and, yes, financially. It is working. [Readers: Type Lewiston into our search function to see how it’s working!—ed]
King: We need more immigrants because the white birthrate is declining, and so we need to speed up the decline of America as we know it by allowing the Third World to enter in a speedier manner! Heck! Might as well get it over with sooner than later!
We are living in a negative demographic time bomb. Last year, I believe for the first time in American history, we had more deaths than births of White Americans. One doesn’t have to be a mathematician to know if that continues, we will shrink and shrivel as a society. We need immigration to add to our population, to add to the ideas and creativity.
[…..]
Immigrants are always going to be different and a little scary, and that has been true throughout American history.
Read the whole speech. It is the usual blah, blah, blah….but read it anyway! By the way, King says this is the job he has been preparing for throughout his entire life, here.
Then below is a report from some readers of Refugee Resettlement Watch who visited a staff member in King’s office the following day.
We need to take in Syrian refugees!
The speech was on Thursday. On Friday we visited with a Senator King aide who is paid $73,000 per year and who works on immigration issues. We were there to discuss the 24-pound Immigration bill, S. 744. The aide did give us a lot of time and we discussed many points. The below points may be of particular interest to readers of Refugee Resettlement Watch and to those in Maine.
The aide, on his own, blurted out, without any question or provocation from us, that whenever “we [America] invade a country or create a war and chaos, we need to take in refugees from that country. We need to take in Syrian refugees. We need to take in Iraqi and Afghan refugees.”
[I didn’t think we had gone to war in Syria yet, but I guess I’m quibbling! We did send arms through Benghazi earlier and we are promising more weapons to the rebels real soon, so I guess that means, at least in the mind of King’s staffer, that the refugees are ours!—ed]
Later, in response to one of our group suggesting that her experiences in the Middle East indicated that Muslim and Arabic culture are just too different and should not be allowed into the USA, the aide responded “that is exactly the same argument that was used against the Catholics 100 years ago.” One assumes that the aide does not foresee within the Muslim refugee and immigrant population the possibility of an embedded catastrophic problem. The aide had no response when recent events in Boston, the World Trade center and other places were mentioned.
Go hereto learn more about the Portland Somali rapist.
The problem King has here (was the speech written by this staffer?), by using emotional arguments and platitudes to make his point, is that for every appealing “creative” blueberry picking immigrant, I can find him an immigrant criminal, a terrorist or a welfare mooch, or an immigration advocate in the Chamber of Commerce looking for cheap blueberry-picking labor!
….and we (Catholic leaders) want more of your tax dollars!
Earlier this month the Vatican released a new study lecturing Catholics on xenophobia and how they should welcome immigrants and other displaced people. Fine, we should be good and decent people, but what really ticked me off was that there appears to be no mention of the indecent amount of money agencies of the Catholic Church receive from taxpayers in order for them to do their good works.
Are we to have no Christian compassion for the middle class taxpayer who might be working a couple of jobs to care for his/her family, but is forced to pay into the Church’s till through taxation? Maybe those struggling workers have other ideas about the charity they would like to give to others that doesn’t include the Catholic Church.
And, I’ll bet if you read the whole study about the plight of refugees and sufferers of human trafficking, you would find the root of the problem world wide—the ‘I’ word and the ‘M’ word missing altogether.
Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio: Give us (the Catholic Church) your tax dollars so we can be charitable and lecture you about being xenophobic!
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Catholic laity have an obligation to root out traces of xenophobia in their hearts and recognize refugees as their brothers and sisters — children of God whose dignity must be protected, said a new Vatican document.
“Welcoming Christ in Refugees and Forcibly Displaced Persons,” a document of pastoral guidelines for providing material and spiritual assistance to people forced to leave their homes was published June 6 by the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers and the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, which promotes and coordinates Catholic charitable activity.
Since the mid-1980s, the document said, the debate surrounding refugees and other asylum seekers has become “a forum for political and administrative election purposes, which fed hostile and aggressive attitudes among the electorate.”
This is infuriating, and who helped the issue of kindness to immigrants become a “political and administrative election” issue—the Catholic Church by demanding taxpayers pay for the Church’s “charity” and forcing communities to take refugees without advance consultation. Human nature is such that there will be a negative reaction when being forced to do something. Rather than look into the policies of Catholic organizations that might be generating the anger, it is easier to call you xenophobic.
CNS continued:
In effect, countries are focused more on deterring newcomers from reaching their shores than they are on offering protection and a welcome to suffering people fleeing situations that threatened their lives and dignity, Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio, president of the council for migrants and travelers, told reporters.
From a Catholic point of view, he said at a Vatican news conference, “every policy, initiative or intervention in this area must be inspired by the principle of the centrality and dignity of the human person.” [What about the human person who has to pay for your charity?—ed]
Readers, I have a whole bunch of Catholic pro-immigration news so what follows are some short takes. Please visit the sites for more information and to follow the links before you head off to church where you will surely be lectured today to call your Senators on S.744 (which contains a slush fund for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops among others).
Catholic elites spend millions to sell illegal alien amnesty!
This is a story penned by Brenda Walker back in April. Walker published a great pie chart to illustrate her post and I’ve been looking for an opportunity to re-post it.
From Catholic Charities at a Glance (2010). Yes, those are billions in government revenue!
The Catholic church has upped its bankroll to wreck American law and sovereignty. It has added $800,000 to its previous amnesty spending of $3 million, since opening the borders to millions more hispanic Catholics is highly desirable for the bishops.
Not that it’s new for Vaticrats to work to subvert a nation that has been very generous to them. The Catholic hierarchy believe their organization supersedes mere laws and nation-states, particularly when the church sees a way to fill its empty pews. Immigration-fueled demographic change has supplied the Catholic church with more credulous worshippers, helpful to replace the many Americans who have left the church out of disgust with its pervert priest problem. (Around 10 percent of Americans are former Catholics, according to Pew research.)
‘Catholic Bishops promote national suicide’ a must-read at the Thinking Housewife! Hat tip: Jewel
Christopher Manion’s 2011 Crisis magazine article, “The Catholic Bishops and Immigration Reform” is an indictment of the malfeasance of the “American” (italics entirely intentional) Catholic Bishops concerning immigration and the United States’ borders that is timelier than ever. I highly recommend it as the execrable Charles Schumer, boy-idiot Marco Rubio, man-lunatic John McCain and light-in-the-loafers Lindsey Graham conspire with Barack Hussein Obama, the Democratic Party and the Republican establishment – bought by such as Sheldon Adelson and Mark Zuckerberg — to destroy the United States through their illegal-alien-amnestying, “guest”-worker-increasing, legal-and-illegal-immigration-increasing, immigration enforcement-gutting S. 744 bill.
Catholic Charities volunteer, Mark Krikorian, fired!
Mark Krikorian, himself from an immigrant family, is now director of theCenter for Immigration Studies and was featured this past week in a Washington Post Style Section profile about his research and policy work in limiting immigration to America. He volunteered his time at Catholic Charities(demonstrating there is nothing xenophobic about him!) and VDARE reportshe has been fired from his charitablework in the wake of the WaPo feature story.
Krikorian’s organization writes policy reports and criticizes government programs, yet the Catholic elite (the “good” people!) can’t counter with good policy work, they must denigrate critics by calling them xenophobic or racist.
In Europe the Jesuits lecture/lobby too!
Be sure to have a look at this story from the Jesuits in Europe—Catholics knee-deep in government policy there too. I wonder if they have a taxpayer-funded slush fund for their charitable work lobbying the EU (just as the Bishops take from Caesar in America? ) Does anyone know?
Tomorrow! Call your US Senators and tell them to vote NO! on S.744!
This is a new twist on convenience store scams I usually write about. Food stamp fraud on a massive scale is being perpetrated on the American taxpayer, but this time franchise owner’s of 7-Eleven stores in New York and Virginia have been found to be harboring illegal alien workers and then keeping a portion of their wages.
The Long Island home purchased by alleged immigrant scammers, Farrukh Baig, 57, and Bushra Baig, 49, was purchased for $1.75 million in 2004. CARRIE MILLER PHOTO
The report in the Washington Posttells us that now a nationwide effort is being made to check other 7-Eleven stores for similar types of fraud. And, it reminded me, has the killer been identified in the murder of the Bhutanese refugee in St. Louis who was found shot in the 7-Eleven store in which he worked.
And, you know what is galling too! All the illegal alien Pakis taken into custody in the 7-Eleven raids could get amnesty in the coming months if the Gang of Eight is successful in getting a bill to Obama this year.
Here is the WaPostory. I had to laugh because the alleged perps are not identified until the closing paragraphs.
A married couple and two brothers who operated 7-Eleven stores in Virginia and New York employed dozens of illegal immigrants under assumed identities and exploited the workers by pocketing some of their wages and requiring them to pay rent to live in unlicensed boardinghouses, authorities said.
Federal indictments unsealed Monday in Brooklyn, N.Y., allege that the four owners and five additional defendants carried out the years-long scheme at four 7-Eleven stores in the Norfolk area and 10 stores in Long Island, N.Y.
At least 50 illegal immigrants, most or all of them from Pakistan, were employed at various times under more than 20 stolen identities of U.S. citizens, some of which were used repeatedly, authorities said.
“From their 7-Eleven stores, the defendants dispensed wire fraud and identity theft along with Slurpees and hot dogs,” said Loretta E. Lynch, the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, whose office is handling the case. “The defendants not only systematically employed illegal immigrants but concealed their crimes by raiding the cradle and the grave to steal the identities of children and even the dead.”
More stores are going to be investigated. Maybe Homeland Security should check that 7-Eleven in South St. Louis where the refugee was recently murdered.
The alleged scheme had been going on for more than a decade, authorities said. They said the investigation is continuing and that federal agents were inspecting the employment record at about 30 other 7-Eleven stores in the country. Lynch called the case “one of the largest criminal immigrant employment investigations ever conducted” by the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
Coming out of the shadows! In the last two paragraphs we learn who the crooks are:
The married couple, Farrukh Baig, 57, and Bushra Baig, 49, both of Long Island, controlled the franchise rights to four Virginia 7-Eleven stores in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake, according to the prosecutors. The brothers, Azhar Zia, 49, and Ummar Uppal, 48, also of Long Island, controlled the franchise rights to two 7-Elevens in Long Island.
The Baigs and Zia are naturalized U.S. citizens and Uppal is a Pakistani national, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Of five additional defendants, who helped the Baigs run their stores, authorities said, three are naturalized U.S. citizens, one is a Pakistani national and one is a citizen of the Philippines.
PHOTO! There are more details in the Suffolk Times and it is where the photo is from.
Readers, this post only tangentially involves refugees (that we know of so far!), some enterprising blogger-wannabe should write a blog primarily dedicated to reporting on scams to rip-off the infidels—food stamp fraud, Medicare/Medicaid fraud, wire fraud and trafficking (human!) like this story.
From the editor: I have so much I could post here at RRW today, but circumstances out of my control are getting in the way. This is what I posted just a few minutes ago at Potomac Tea Party Report about events in DC tomorrow which might be of some interest to readers here as well.
Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck announced yesterday that he too will be in Washington, DC tomorrow for the rally to bring the Nation’s attention to the IRS targeting scandal, and at the same time the Brave 70 will hold an all day event in opposition to the Gang of Eight plus Grover bill working its way through the Senate.
The Seventy members of the House will be challenging Speaker John Boehner and his inner circle (including Paul Ryan) on the so-called “comprehensive” immigration reform bill that Boehner would like to see pass the House in some form so he can go to conference committee and ‘compromise’ with what is expected to be an egregious Senate version of the bill (S.744).
If you missed it, Rush Limbaugh was great yesterday on his radio show saying that this push for amnesty isn’t driven by humanitarianism (and Hispanics won’t be voting Republican), it is being pushed on both sides of the aisle by moneyed interests who simply want the cheap labor supply, and if people like Rubio (Rush implied) want a future in national politics he has to tow the line or he won’t get the big campaign donations. Limbaugh says they are all crony capitalists now—the big money doesn’t care who (or which party) is in the White House just so they get to put their hands into the government till.
Leading the 70 Member revolt are Reps. Steve King, Michele Bachmann and Louie Gohmert.
Here is Beck on his show yesterday (hat tip: Cathy):
This Wednesday, June 19, in Washington D.C. there will be an open forum that will feature “border security, anti-amnesty members of Congress.” The debate is slated for 9AM to 12PM and then again from 2PM to 5PM. In between, members of Congress will join with an already-planned Tea Party rally against the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative organizations. Glenn will be joining the event and speaking at noon.
“There are 70 Republicans now in congress that we sent there,” Glenn said. “They’re standing up this week and they’re about to be slaughtered.”
“I think there will be five people in Washington this week on Wednesday because it’s, you know, it’s a Wednesday. It’s in the middle of the week. Who does this? It’s costing me a fortune to be able to get the TV and everybody up there to be able to ‑‑ to be able to just cover it, let alone speak up there. I’m flying a few of my pastors and my priests and my rabbi friends up with me for an announcement with the Black‑Robe Regiment. That’s not something I want to do. Last thing I want to do is get back on an airplane and travel up to Washington D.C. and stand there and be a part of that.”
“There are many things I don’t believe in anymore, and Washington is one of them. And I despise that city now. Because it has just become a symbol of corruption to me, a symbol of grotesque growth, where the rest of us are suffering in the rest of the country,” he said.
Here is the location of the Audit the IRS rally. The Lincoln-Douglas style debate on immigration will be in front of the US Capital (presumably where the rally will also take place, but I don’t know that for sure).
For people in Western Maryland, the Hagerstown Tea Party still has seats available on its bus(as of this writing!).
For everything we have said here at RRW about S.744, the “mother of all legislative train wrecks”, go here.
We want more immigrants in Maine and in America because Thomas Jefferson said that’s good for America! (Or I think he did! Well, sort of!). King opened a
