ACTION ALERT!

May 30, 2007

CALL TO ACTION: 

TELEPHONE CALLS TO YOUR U.S. SENATORS: 

Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) legislation

Dear Lutheran Advocate,

Grace and peace to you in the name of our risen Lord!

As you may know, the U.S. Senate is currently debating comprehensive immigration reform (CIR).   As CIR is related to LAMPa’s 2007-2008 advocacy priorities (hunger/poverty and health/health care), we are collaborating with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) on this issue.

While LIRS supports comprehensive immigration reform, there are serious concerns that the current proposed legislation will have a devastating impact on families by making it harder for family members to reunite here in the U.S.   Please call your U.S. Senators following the script outlined below (contact information below).  Also, below is information about the 2 amendments.  If you would like additional information, please contact this office.

It would help tremendously if Pennsylvania Lutherans could get involved in this “Call to Action” about the importance of enacting humane immigration reform.  It would be appreciated if you would file a post-call report with the LAMPa office, lamp@paonline.com, for any related advocacy that you do on this issue (i.e. indicating the date/time of your call, to whom you spoke, and summary of the contact).  If you would be interested in participating in visitations to congressional offices with groups organized by LAMPa/LIRS, please let us know.

Thank you for your partnership in ministry with and for the poor, vulnerable, disenfranchised, and on behalf of all God’s creation!

Neil Harrison

The Rev. Neil P. Harrison

Executive Director

Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania

245 Division Street, Suite 2

Harrisburg, PA 17110-1213

(717) 232-9128

(717) 232-4155 (fax)

nharrison@lamp.org

www.lamp.org

·         Senator Arlen Specter:  Call Juria Jones (key staff person) at (202) 224-4254

·         Senator Robert Casey:  Call the Senators’ general office at (202) 224-6324

Script for call to Senators:

            "My name is _________.  I am a church member/the pastor of the ELCA    (congregation name)   .  I am calling to express my concern about the proposed immigration bill currently being debated in the Senate.  In my opinion, this proposal is deeply flawed and in particular devalues families.  For generations, families have been the cornerstone of immigration to the U.S. and the foundation of immigration policy.  The current proposal will make severe cuts to the family-sponsored visa program that I cannot support.  The proposal will make it much harder for families to reunite with children, parents, spouses, and siblings − all core members of any family structure. 

I urge you to vote against any final Senate bill that hurts families in this way.  I also urge you to consider supporting 2 amendments that will help improve the bill.  The first is the Backlog Reduction Amendment sponsored by Senators Menendez and Hagel.  The second is the Spouses and Unmarried Children Amendment sponsored by Senators Clinton, Hagel, and Menendez.

Thank you.”

Ask your Senators to support these 2 amendments to the proposed Senate immigration bill:

§ Menendez-Hagel Backlog Reduction Amendment.  

The current Senate proposal would force hundreds of thousands of relatives of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who filed visa petitions after May 1, 2005  to go to the end of the waiting line.  The proposal would punish thousands of immigrant relatives who have followed the law and played by the rules.  The Menendez-Hagel amendment will fix this problem by establishing a more recent cut-off date of January 2007 for these applicants.

§ Clinton-Hagel-Menendez Spouses and Unmarried Children Amendment: The Clinton-Hagel-Menendez amendment would categorize spouses and unmarried children (under the age of 21) of lawful permanent residents as “immediate relatives.”  This would ensure that long-term residents in the United States have the opportunity to reunite with their immediate family members and would eliminate the current five year wait.