Reading a survey mailed to me by the Democratic National Committee gives some insight into the frustration driving the thousands of illegal aliens marching in the streets against them this weekend. For all the talk by DNC leaders in favor of an amnesty, they didn’t want to bring up immigration to people from whom they hoped to raise money.
Yes, the nation’s top 3 officials (Obama, Pelosi and Reid) repeatedly express their view that they want illegal aliens voting in U.S. elections as soon as possible as full-fledged U.S. citizens.
But the illegal aliens and their supporters have strong reasons to believe those words may not be followed by actions. There is no question that the Big 3 want an amnesty. But at what political price? And are they willing to pay the political price if they aren’t guaranteed that they will win the amnesty vote?
One sign that Democratic leaders aren’t at all sure of the pro-amnesty position is this DNC survey I pulled out of a pile of unopened mail this weekend. It lists 14 national issues. But immigration isn’t among them. That is kind of strange since most of the news media continually mention “immigration reform” as one of the six big “next” issues for the Democratic majority to tackle.
This is where the 940,000 members and 2.5-million email list of NumbersUSA come in. Their faithful and relentless efforts to educate Members of Congress and the Administration about the problems of over-immigration and amnesties have helped Democratic leaders understand how politically dangerous their open-borders preferences are.
I suspect that the DNC doesn’t really want to know what potential donors think about immigration. And the DNC certainly doesn’t want to take a chance of turning off a significant segment of donors who are part of the patriotic, American-worker-supporting wing of the Democratic Party by phrasing immigration questions in a way that might garner support for “comprehensive immigration reform.”
When the New York Times called me yesterday for my reaction to this weekend’s marches, I noted that our people are frustrated, too.
And the frustration of the majority of Americans who have the same opinions as our members is going to be far more persuasive to Congress than the frustration of the illegal aliens who are marching. That is, if U.S. citizens make their voices heard.
I told the Times that since Thursday, we processed more than 150,000 faxes into Congress and the White House protesting the lack of security on our border with Mexico. I’ve gone back to check and the precise number is 174,142 through Saturday.
If you peruse the internet, you will find dozens of stories in the mainstream media about the frustration among illegal aliens and their supporters at the lack of action on an amnesty. You will find very few stories about the frustration of the average U.S. citizen over the unwillingness of Democratic and Republican Presidents and Congresses for 20 years to enforce our immigration laws.
But Members of Congress know about your frustration. And it looks like the leaders at the Democratic National Committee do, too.
We at NumbersUSA will continue to do all we can to make sure they don’t forget.
ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA
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