A coalition of organizations and individuals led by Tea Party Patriots is demanding that the House not take its immigration legislation to conference with the Senate immigration bill.
In a letter sent via email to all House members Friday, groups and individuals stated their unflinching opposition to the Senate-passed immigration bill, S.744, and called on the House to stay away from proposals that resemble it.
“We write to express our opposition to House consideration or passage of any legislation, amendment, resolution or conference report that bears any resemblance to S. 744, the Senate amnesty bill that passed the Senate on June 27, 2013,” the letter dated Thursday but delivered Friday reads.
“We also oppose any effort by House Leadership to go to conference on the Senate bill, including any plan to pass a simple one-page bill that would allow the House to deceive the American public and pull a bait and switch to ultimately pass a conference report resembling the Senate bill,” they added.
The letter is signed by the heads of 77 tea party and conservative groups as well as 15,606 individuals from around the country.
“We wanted to let Congress know we understand the games they are trying to play,” Tea Party Patriots head Jenny Beth Martin told The Daily Caller, pointing to procedural maneuvers as the “games.”
In expressing its displeasure with the Senate bill, the coalition laid out its top ten problems with the legislation, which its contends “simply cannot be fixed.”
The groups believe the Senate bill will:
1. Will cost American taxpayers trillions of dollars;
2. Will lower American workers’ wages over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office;
3. Fails to close the loopholes that allow legal immigrants (and their dependents) as well as illegal immigrants to access the myriad tax credits, welfare programs and other public assistance programs (despite requirements under the Welfare Reform Act of 1996);
4. Fails to secure the border and, in fact, will exacerbate existing weaknesses in our national security;
5. Will impose significant burdens on state and local governments that will bear the burden of delivering certain legally required benefits, including in our local schools;
6. Dramatically increases the future flow of illegal immigration;
7. Contains payouts and political favors for special interest groups, including Silicon Valley companies and other big business lobbying groups;
8. Provides total discretion to the Secretary of Homeland Security to enforce (or not enforce) the bill’s border security provisions (See Section 5(b)(5));
9. Reverses America’s “melting pot” tradition by funneling taxpayer dollars to community organizing groups that undermine the patriotic assimilation of new immigrants.
10. Decimates Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an important agency that is responsible for our nation’s interior immigration enforcement. As a result, the Senate amnesty bill is overwhelmingly opposed by ICE officers, who are the ones serving on the front lines to protect our country.
The letter went on to invoke Obamacare to warn of the “dangers of passing sweeping ‘comprehensive’ legislation” and called on members to put pressure on leadership to achieve their ends.
“Ask the Speaker to publically commit that he will not convene a conference on the Senate amnesty bill,” they wrote.
They further called on members to sway their colleagues against the Senate bill and encouraged them to listen to their constituents over recess about immigration reform.
“Meet with your constituents during the August recess and hold town halls and other public forums where you can hear directly from your constituents about our ideas for real immigration reform,” they wrote.
Martin noted to TheDC that Tea Party Patriots has been working with Eagle Forum and NumbersUSA to set up town hall meetings over August recess.