"The money and the lobbying power is stacked against us," said a representative of NumbersUSA. "This is an issue that people see and experience the effects of on an everyday basis. There is definitely a very powerful grass-roots activism on this issue."
NumbersUSA has more than 300,000 activists sending faxes and calling Congress, an increase from 100,000 two years ago. More than 1 million people receive e-mail alerts from the group.
At first blush, I'm sure some will find the news of big California ag firms expanding operations in Mexico to be a negative reaction to increased enforcement against illegal immigration.
Look deeper, however, and this is yet more proof that a constant and escalating enforcement will create an attrition in the illegal population in the U.S. -- and will allow agricultural capitalism to begin to work properly without the distortion of an amnesty.
In the face of enormous opposition from both sides of the aisle, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid opted to drop the agricultural amnesty from the Iraq Supplemental Spending Bill.
Reid decided to drop language, submitted by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Larry Craig, that would have given a path to citizenship for 1.3 million illegal agricultural workers, as well as their families.
Our NumbersUSA Capitol Hill Team learned late Wednesday through both Democratic and Republican sources that Sen. Feinstein (D-Calif.) was preparing to add an agricultural amnesty to the Iraq bill Thursday in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
