Anti-Amnesty Strategy for July

The strategy for those who oppose amnesty in the House during July should first concentrate on getting our side into the dominant position in the House debate before the July 10 GOP caucus meeting.

(1) Make certain that the anti-amnesty side is as strong as possible in the July 10 meeting, so that their concerns rule the day. You can do this by donating to and contacting known strong amnesty opponents, by contacting Speaker John Boehner (202-225-0600) and telling him to blue-slip S. 744 (send it back to the Senate on the grounds that it imposes taxes and therefore must originate in the House), by contacting Majority Leader Eric Cantor (202-225-2815) and telling him enforcement needs to be dealt with separately from, and prior to, legalization (yes, I know that even an enforcement-only bill brings the conference committee threat, but the goal right now is to soften Cantor up and get him to support enforcement first, after that we can push him on tactics - desides, the Tea Party Congressmen already know about the conference threat and will push the point at the July 10 meeting), and by visiting NumbersUSA and signing up for Action Alerts. NumbersUSA will give you lots of ideas as to how to oppose amnesty effectively.

(2) Call your own Congressman and tell them that the Senate bill S. 744 is unacceptable, and that it would flood the labor market with legal and illegal foreign workers, destroying the American working and middle classes. If your Congressman is a Democrat, emphasize these points; if a Republican, tell them also that the bill is amnesty-first, with only promises of enforcement. It is not only important that anti-amnesty be reinforced amongst Republicans, it is important that Democrats know that their constituents hate the bill so that they will be scared to defend it too much.

(3) Make certain that squishy Republicans who might try to pull a Rubio know that we are onto them and they won't be able to slip anything by us (this will reduce the chance of a discharge petition or of pressure causing Boehner to cave on bringing up the Senate bill). Call Paul Ryan at (202) 225-3031 and tell him "This is [your name] Just a warning – the Tea Party is watching. I know you would dearly love to pull a Rubio and support amnesty legislation in the House. Don’t. Try and we’ll make sure you can’t get elected dogcatcher." You'll probably get voice mail, but leave a message. You might want to rewrite it in your own words, but be sure to write down what you want to say beforehand.

(4) Call people who make statements that are weak - Bob Goodlatte said that Republicans might support a pathway to legalization. Call him ((202) 225-5431) and tell him that a pathway to legalization IS amnesty. We want enforcement only, no legalization. Blake Farenthold (202-225-7742) is a little too sympathetic to the interests of the illegals and you should call him and tell him "No legalization for illegals! Legalization is amnesty! A path to legalization is amnesty! 'Earned legalization' is amnesty!" I'm sure you can find other straddlers who need their spines stiffened.

Once this is accomplished, the goal shifts to making certain that no legalization passes the House, that the House either procedurally kills the Senate bill (e.g. blue slip) or that it does not allow anything to go to conference with the Senate bill. We need to work on getting each of these topics into the media, and getting people on our side. We need to inundate Congress with calls, and we need events like the Black American Leadership Alliance's upcoming D.C. March for Jobs.

I'll deal with later parts of the strategy over the next few days. But the first goal is to get the anti-amnesty side as strong as possible for the caucus on July 10. If we are in control of the debate, then we will be in a much better position to work our will.

That is all.