A family crosses the U.S. border into Arizona; a student spends his last dime on a flight that will take him to the beginning of an education in the U.S.; an abandoned immigrant mother struggles as a maid to give her children a better life than she had - these are the immigrant stories we read, and for many of us, our hearts are filled with emotion.
What do you call an American who denies another American a job because they would rather hire an illegal alien? Would calling them a racist be appropriate? How about a xenophobe or bigot? Maybe those words are too strong - you can be the judge - but let me start with a story that happened in New Jersey just a few weeks ago.
When NumbersUSA aired the "Lower LEGAL Immigration" ad during two recent GOP national debates, a number of individuals posted comments on Twitter in disbelief that any organization would advocate lower legal immigration levels. Amnesty is the only form of LEGAL immigration that some are willing stand against. However, just because something is legal doesn't make it morally right. For example, if the African Slave trade were still in operation today, I would stand against it.
Have a cell phone?
Imagine sitting in your chair one late afternoon. All of a sudden your phone receives a text message from NumbersUSA, indicating that the Senate has attached an Amnesty rider to a must pass bill. The text indicates that you can reply "OK" to receive talking points and a phone number. After replying you receive a follow up text and dial the number (or simply touch the number for those of you with smart phones), connect with your representative’s office, and demand that the Amnesty rider be removed from the bill.
Crisis averted.
A newsletter I subscribe to sent out an alert last week entitled "Evangelical Leaders Unite on Just Assimilation Immigration Policy." With heightened interest I began reading about how the law in Arizona is a response to the federal government's failure, that we need a rational immigration policy, that we are a nation of laws, and that we needed a solution that is neither amnesty nor mass deportation. I was excited because this is what I believe, until I realized that it was just a trial balloon for an alternative to the word Amnesty: Assimilation Immigration.
A few weeks ago as I was running to catch my ride home after a long day at the office, an old lady asked me for $5.00 to buy dinner. "$5.00 for something to eat? Please? I'm hungry." I was literally running as she asked me, and I told her, "I'm sorry, maybe next time." Then my conscience started eating at me. I kept hearing the words ringing in my ears, "For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat." I turned around, pulled $5.00 out of my pocket and ran back to find her, but she had gone.
This week a member of my team came to me and reminded me of how desperate we are for two new database machines. For those of you that aren’t familiar with techno-speak, a database machine is essentially a large storage container for information. As we post more news, blogs, articles; as users post comments; as we store more information about bills so we can produce the Gradecards and Profiles; as we provide more faxes, phone alerts and other actions to your Action Buffet; as we store each member’s log in credentials; and I could continue this list, each of these pieces of information have to be stored.
I just finished looking at our fax reports this morning. Members ordered 43,340 faxes to Congress, the President, and Secretary Napolitano yesterday. This compares to 44,732 faxes on Monday. As Director of Technology at NumbersUSA, it is my job, among other things, to make sure these get delivered.