Witness for Peace - March 31, 2006 - Update on Senate Immigration Legislation

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Update on Senate Immigration Legislation
March 31, 2006

Friends,

Sorry for the recent email flood, but there is so much going on right now. And, we have more exciting news to share with you!

Thanks to all the work of people standing up all around the US - hard working immigrants, students, activists - the Senate is taking notice of the massive grassroots call for fair, honest immigration reform, and against the criminalization of people. We are forwarding an alert from the LAWG on the most recent developments.

In solidarity,
The WFP Mexico Team

LAWG Update**

March 30, 2006

Dear Border Policy Advocates -

Many thanks to everyone who has made phone calls and sent e-mail this week to Senator Bill Frist to insist that the Judiciary Committee's immigration reform bill get a fair hearing on the floor of the Senate. Thanks to calls from around the country, the bill is currently being debated by the Senate right now. But we've just won half the battle on that front.

Though the Judiciary Committee's comprehensive approach to immigration reform is being debated by the Senate, the Frist enforcement-only bill (which is similar to the House bill, HR 4437) is being debated simultaneously. Senators will now have until April 6 to decide which approach they will support. On April 6, a week from today, the Senate will vote on final passage of one of these two bills, and will be amending both bills from now until then.

The amendment process over the next week will be important to the final result. Because Senator Frist forced the Judiciary Committee to finish their bill by an artificial deadline of this past Monday (which they met), many of the amendments we would have liked to have seen brought up during the committee process did not have time to be debated. We're keeping an eye on what amendments are going to be presented, and will get out alerts to you when we need your support.

In the meantime, it's important to get out a strong message to your senators that you support a comprehensive approach when it comes time to vote next Thursday. Here's the message to send:

*I support the earned legalization program for the current 12 million undocumented workers in the US
*I support a guest-worker program that has a path to citizenship for those workers
*I oppose the criminalization of migrants, and of those who provide them with aid
*I oppose attempts to further militarize the border, and want to see better accountability measures for federal agents working in the region.

Presenting these views to your senators will help strengthen their resolve to support the best possible bill when it comes time to vote.

Additionally, we would like to ask those of you who have senators on the Judiciary Committee who voted for the bill that came out of committee on Monday to thank them for their principled stand. Those senators are:

Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
Joseph Biden (D-DE)
Mike DeWine (R-OH)
Herbert Kohl (D-WI)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Russell Feingold (D-WI)
Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Charles Schumer (D-NY)
Richard Durbin (D-IL)

Again, many thanks to those of you who are working to ensure that our nation continues to define itself as one that welcomes the stranger, and that values to contributions of migrant communities.

Best Regards - Sean

Sean Mariano Garcia
Latin America Working Group

Witness for Peace endorses 2006 Migrant Trail Walk

The Migrant Trail Walk is intended to raise awareness about this extremely violent part within the cycle of economic violence, and Witness for Peace is proud to be a part of this binational, broad-based grassroots effort at education and action towards justice.

Witness for Peace is organizing a delegation that begins in Chiapas, Mexico where we will be meeting social justice organizations and staying in a homes of a community devastated by migration, struggling to maintain their culture and families. The delegation will then travel to the U.S.-Mexico border, meeting with more organizations and learning about the situation that migrants face in the north. The next phase of the delegation will be participating in the entire six-day Migrant Trail Walk which will include walking through the desert of Arizona, arriving in Tucson, which is the same path that thousands of migrants take each year.

If you can't participate in the delegation, you can still be part of the Walk! Organize folks in your community or contact your Regional Organizer for more information about others who are interested in participating in the Walk. See you in Arizona!!

(For more information on the delegation contact mexico@witnessforpeace.org or check out the website at http://www.witnessforpeace.org/romd/romd.html).

Save the Dates

Week of Action for Trade Justice for Colombia, April 17-21. Contact Erik Cooke at erik@witnessforpeace.org or visit http://www.witnessforpeace.org/campaigns for more information.
SOA Watch Lobby Days, April 23-25 in Washington, DC. Visit www.soaw.org for more information.

**WFP thanks the Latin American Working Group for its work on HR 4437 and for this update.