Center for Media and Democracy Alec Model Legislation Resolution Against Amnesty
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See Center for Media and Democracy's quick summary, below Exposed By the Center for Media and Democracy www.prwatch.org D I D YOU KNOW? Corporations VOTED to adopt this. Through ALEC, global companies ALEC EXPOSED Search ABOUT GO MEMBERS EVENTS & MEETINGS “ALEC” NEWShas long been a secretive collaboration between BigLegislation Business and Model “conservative” politicians. Civil Justice Behind closed doors, they ghostwrite “model” bills to Commerce, Insurance, and Economic be introduced in state Development capitols across the country. This agenda--underwritten Education by global corporations-Energy, includes majorEnvironment, tax and Agriculture loopholes for big industries and the super rich, Federal Relations proposals to offshore U.S. Health Human jobs and gut and minimum wage,Services and efforts to weaken public health, International Relations safety, and environmental Public Although Safety andmany protections. Elections of these bills have become law, until now, their origin Tax and Fiscal Policy has been largely unknown. With ALEC EXPOSED, the Telecommunications Centerand forInformation Media and Technology Democracy hopes more Americans will study the Print this Page bills to understand the depth and Text-Only breadth Page of how big corporations are Email this Page changing the legal rules and undermining democracy across the nation. Home LOGIN | LOGOUT HOMEto | JOIN ALEC | CONTACT work as “equals” in “unison” with politicians to write| laws govern your life. Big Business has “a VOICE TASK and aFORCES VOTE,” according to newly exposed documents. DO YOU? MODEL LEGISLATION ALEC INITIATIVES PUBLICATIONS Model Legislation Public Safety and Elections Resolution Against Amnesty Summary Did you know the NRA--the National Rifle Association-was the corporate co-chair in 2011? Requests that the United States Congress oppose any legislation supporting amnesty or the granting of lawful status to any person that has entered or remained in the United States illegally. Model Resolution WHEREAS, amnesty was the failed solution of past federal legislation; and WHEREAS, amnesty allows for increased cost in all areas of life for legal citizens; and WHEREAS, amnesty rewards illegal aliens for breaking our laws; and WHEREAS, amnesty would allow illegal-alien gang members, criminals, and terrorists to be eligible to become citizens of the United States; and WHEREAS, amnesty would increase the poverty rate and allow more people to collect unemployment benefits; and WHEREAS, amnesty would encourage millions more to fraudulently apply for amnesty; and WHEREAS, amnesty actually serves to punish those foreign nationals that respect the law and seek to enter the country properly; and WHEREAS, amnesty fails to require use of any verification system by employers such as the “Basic Pilot Verification System;” and WHEREAS, amnesty would increase the number of people eligible for the already financially suffering Medicaid and Medicare systems; and ALEC’s’Corporate Board --in recent past or present • AT&T Services, Inc. • centerpoint360 • UPS • Bayer Corporation • GlaxoSmithKline • Energy Future Holdings • Johnson & Johnson • Coca-Cola Company • PhRMA • Kraft Foods, Inc. • Coca-Cola Co. • Pfizer Inc. • Reed Elsevier, Inc. • DIAGEO • Peabody Energy • Intuit, Inc. • Koch Industries, Inc. • ExxonMobil • Verizon • Reynolds American Inc. • Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. • Salt River Project • Altria Client Services, Inc. • American Bail Coalition • State Farm Insurance For more on these corporations, search at www.SourceWatch.org. WHEREAS, amnesty would allow individuals to become eligible for Supplemental Social Security Income, which is currently in need of much reform; and WHEREAS, it cost billions of dollars to educate illegal immigrants and the children of illegal immigrants with a cost of up to $8500 per child; and WHEREAS, the cost of amnesty is estimated in the trillions and would add additional burden onto all State and federally funded programs; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the American Legislative Exchange Council urges the Congress of the United States to strongly oppose any legislation supporting amnesty or the granting of lawful status to any person that has entered or remained in the United States illegally. Adopted by the Criminal Justice Task Force at the States and Nation Policy Summit, December 2007. Approved by the ALEC Board of Directors January 2008. Login Events reports & Meetings About Us and ALEC About EXPOSED. Members The Center for MediaLogout and Democracy on corporate spin and government Model ForcesWisconsin, ALEC Initiatives Homewww.SourceWatch.org, propaganda.! WeLegislation are located inTask Madison, and publishPublications www.PRWatch.org, ALEC information Contact contact: News editor@prwatch.org or 608-260-9713. and now www.ALECexposed.org. Join For more Exposed By the Center for Media and Democracy www.prwatch.org Center for Media and Democracy's quick summary: This Resolution, issued after the failure of George W. Bush's 2007 push for comprehensive immigration reform, makes a series of inaccurate assertions in its effort to oppose a path to citizenship, which ALEC brands "amnesty." The Resolution alleges "amnesty" would allow "illegal gang-members" and "terrorists" to become citizens, but no federal legislation under consideration would allow undocumented immigrants to adjust their status without a review of criminal history by immigration authorities. It also alleges that a fault of Comprehensive Immigration Reform or "amnesty" programs is that they do not require use of the "Basic Pilot Verification System," a system that is entirely unrelated to the issue of adjusting legal status and fraught with errors. The system had a 50% error rate for immigrants (denying employment to lawfully present non-citizens) and even had an error rate of 1% for U.S. citizens seeking employment (which, in a country with a population of 200 million, would deny 200,000 U.S. citizens the right to work). This Resolution makes baseless allegations about immigrants who adjust their status depending on social programs, while also claiming it would result in "increased cost in all areas of life for legal citizens." Unscrupulous employers would have a harder time under-paying and mistreating immigrant labor if laborers could more easily enforce safety and wage laws without risk of retaliation by employers due to their undocumented status.