Subject: HQ709

From: [email-masked] (ifcss)
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 95 17:11:05 GMT

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HEADQUARTERS NEWSRELEASE * HEADQUARTERS NEWSRELEASE * HEADQUARTERS NEWSREL
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           *  *  *    N E W S   R E L E A S E   7009   *  *  *
                 _________   August 1, 1995   __________

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		Package on Anti-Immigration Bill HR 1915
		----------------------------------------

1. Update Information on Congress Anti-Immigration Bill HR 1915

The  IFCSS  Headquarters is  briefed  by a  national  lobby  coalition, in
which IFCSS holds her membership,  about the latest development of the bill 
in Capitol Hill on July 31.

Senator Alan  Simpson, WY,  of   Judiciary Committee is  speeding  up  his
legislation process  in  one Senate Bill  which  is mainly targeting  both
non-immigrant and immigrant visas. He claims he  is going to introduce his
bill to Full      Senate Judiciary  Committee  prior to      Congressional
recess.   There  emerges another trend   in   Senate that  the  bill S269,
targeting  the welfare benefits  of illegal  immigrants, could be combined
with Simpson's bill.

Meanwhile, so far it's  known that there have  been sixteen members of the
House Judiciary Committee who would co-sponsor the Smith's H.R.  1915, out
of total  thirty-five members. Good news  is that still there  hasn't been
majority of members sponsoring this bill; but the bad  thing is that Smith
may still be able to gain the majority after the recess.  It all depends.

IFCSS President Xing, Zheng  attended two  conferences of major  coalition
teams in  Washington D.C., on July  31, to discuss the latest developments
and the corresponding  strategies.    There are more than   forty national
organizations participating in  the conferences   for joint efforts.    We
address parts of the strategies reflected in the following attached sample
letters,  and more will   be   released in  next IFCSS   Headquarters News
Release.

Since the Smith bill is so huge containing  restrictions and reductions in
incredible volumes, strategies are very important for coordinated actions.
Please follow the IFCSS - released agenda to take actions immediately, and
more information will be released in coming packages.

2.  IFCSS Task Force  is soliciting  the   stories and experience  of "new
immigrants", Chinese students and scholars and professionals, studying and
working in the U.S.A. These materials will  be very precious and important
for lobbying Congress members, showing  them the successful stories of new
immigrants in order to rebut the blames  and complaints from those critics
against the current U.S. immigration policies.

Please send  your "short stories"  to  [email-masked], or mail  to IFCSS
Headquarters. IFCSS will compile  all  the solicited materials,  including
photographs,  after making copies,   and send them  to  the  Capitol Hill.
IFCSS also  encourages  CSS to send these  stories  to District Offices of
Congress members in their own States.

The Headquarters especially welcome  local CSS organizations and CSSAs, to
appeal   to their  members   and organize   the  "drive"  to collect   the
materials. Be united, we can make us stronger!

3. IFCSS Task Force  provides the sample  letters  for CSS communities  as
following. Please feel free to distribute to all  public nets you know and
friends' addresses. All other lobby  groups from CSS community please feel
free  also  to  make   use  of  these sample    letters for promoting  the
participation of grassroots.

The   first  set  of    sample letters are     designed   to address  both
family-related    immigration,  business-related   immigration issues  and
general concerns to  either   Congress members, or  news  media  and local
administrative officials. Please read  the contents, and add some personal
stories, or  materials which could  be easily derived  from the supplement
documents in next package.  All the letters to  Congress members could  be
sent to both their D.C.  office and their District  office by fax or  mail
(please make a phone call for fax number if it's not listed) in last IFCSS
HQ News Release. It is the IFCSS HQ's request for all CSS who receive this
and  related packages, please keep them  in your mailbox, for multiple use
later  on.   If  there  is   any  question, please   send   your  mail to:
[email-masked], or call 202 347 0017. Thank you for cooperation.

4. Sample Letters for Grassroots' Immediate Actions

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Sample Letter I: For General Use

The Honorable [Congress Member] U.S. House of Representatives 
[or Senate]
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative Last Name [or Senator Last Name]

I  am a Chinese   student [professional], and  right  now troubled by  the
growing tendency of some  lawmakers in  the  U.S. to blame immigrants  for
problems we did not create.

Specifically, I write to  you to express  my opposition to the legislation
moving through Congress to reduce legal immigration and refugee admissions
into the United States.  H.R. 1915 and legislation soon  to be proposed by
Senator Alan Simpson  of Wyoming will  make it very difficult for families
to be reunited, and the opportunities  for legal immigrants to be employed
greatly reduced.

If you carefully look into the immigration  issue, the new immigrants like
us  trained   in  U.S.   institutions, actually    have created  more  job
opportunities, but not squeeze the U.S. citizens out of the job market; As
for  family reunion immigration, H.R. 1915  mandates that U.S. citizen can
bring in their parents  only if the majority of  their children already in
this  country.  Keeping   families  forever   separated  does  not    seem
appropriate in a nation that seems intent on strengthening families.

Throughout America's history,  legally   admitted immigrants have   been a
source of strength and vitality to this nation.  We are honored, and proud
to be part of the latest  newcomers to the U.S.,  and have confidence that
we too will make this a stronger and more dynamic nation.

We ask  you  to please  resist attempts to  keep  families  separated, and
reduce the job opportunities for international scholars and professionals,
resulting in  robbing this great  nation of talented, energetic people who
want  only to pursue  the American Dream.  Thank you for considering these
comments.

Sincerely Yours,

Name, Address, District.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Sample Letter II:  For General Use

Date

The Honorable (Congress Member) U.S.House of Representatives,
Washington D.C. 20515

Re: H.R. 1915 - Reform of Legal Immigration

Dear Congress Member:

Deeply concerned about the negative impacts, I am writing to urge you take
a firm stand against the House bill H.R. 1915.

Basically, H.R.   1915 is  a  product of  the anti-immigration  sentiment,
which I believe does not reflect the mainframe thought of American people.
Based on the  false assumption that  is was the  immigrants who caused the
slow down of  economic growth, the authors of  this bill  want to cut  the
number  of immigrants dramatically.  I strongly oppose such wrong proposal
based on the wrong judgments.

Looking back into the  history,  immigrants has always  been  contributing
positively to   the economic   growth of  this   country and    its social
development as well. One  could hardly imagine  how could it possible  for
American to achieve its  prosperity without immigrants. While the drafters
of  H.R.  1915 claim   that immigrants cost   U.S. economy,  there   is no
convincing study supports such assertion.

Please vote NO for H.R. 1915.

Sincerely Yours,

Your Name, Address and  District.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Sample Letter III     On Employment-based Immigration And H.R. 1915

Date

The Honorable (Congress Member) U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.

Re: H.R. 1915 - Reform of Legal Immigration

Dear Congress Member:

We have  just learned about  Congressman Lamar  Smith's immigration reform
legislation,  H.R. 1915 and the effects  it could  have our institution 's
(company's) ability to  recruit and employ certain essential international
personnels.

Our institution's (company's)  academic achievement (economic  growth) and
success depends  in  part on our  ability  to employ certain  foreign born
individuals who   [insert here the  importance or  the occupation   of the
professionals, researchers, managers  or executives in your institution or
company].

While we support responsible efforts to reform U.S. immigration policy, we
were  disturbed to learn   that H.R.  1915 attempts   to revise  the  laws
regarding   illegal   immigration at   the  same   time it   reforms legal
immigration.   We   urge  you  to support the    separation of legislation
regarding illegal immigration   from  reform  of legal  immigration.   Any
attempt  to enhance  control of illegal  immigration and   to reform legal
immigration  in  the   same  bill will  cause   unavoidable  confusion and
misunderstandings and is likely to result in harmful  changes to the legal
immigration system.

I hope  you  will urge  Congressman Lamar   Smith and  Judiciary Committee
Chairman Henry Hyde  to treat the  issues of illegal and legal immigration
separately  in  two  separate   bills and  to  make    control of  illegal
immigration the first order of priority.

Secondly, we are concerned over specific provisions that we have uncovered
through our preliminary review of H.R. 1915:

[Include and elaborate on provisions that  apply to your concerns from the
following release]

We hope that  you will give  these  concerns your immediate  attention. We
fear  that as we look  more  closely at H.R.    1915, we will uncover many
other problems that need correction.

Please  obtain  a  commitment  from  Mr.  Smith   and  Mr.  Hyde that  the
legislation will not be  approved until there is  a chance to be  provided
for more responsible amendments.

Thank you for your immediate attention to these concerns.

Sincerely Yours,

Your Name, Address, District

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Sample Letter IV:   On Family Union - related Immigration And H.R. 1915

Date

The Honorable (Congress Member) U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congress Member:

I  am greatly  concerned over   the anti-immigrant  views that  are  being
expressed   in Congress. These views,  if   passed in proposed legislation
House bill H.R.  1915,  will place severe limits on  the right of American
families or families of permanent residents to be together.

Our country's current  immigration laws permit  U.S. citizens or permanent
residents to   sponsor their  loved  ones  into  this  country in  limited
numbers. Drastic  cutbacks in  the    ability of American   and  permanent
residents' members  to reunite will weaken these  families and deprive our
nation of one of its most important resources.

[Put your  story here. Describe how  important it is from  your experience
that families  continue  to stay together.  Describe the  benefits  family
immigrants bring to  the family unit,  the community. For example, cite  a
family  business that  play a beneficial   role  in the community, or  the
participation of the immigrants  in  community affairs,  etc. if  there is
any]

Reductions in family immigration would force families to remain separated,
perhaps forever. I  therefore  ask  that you  oppose  restrictions on  our
current  family immigration policies, as they   will only harm our culture
and our communities.

I understand that  Congress may be voting  on immigration reduction bills,
such  as H.R.  1915, very  soon.  I ask  that  you communicate my concerns
directly to  the  House [Senate]  Judiciary Committee  Chairman, Mr. Henry
Hyde, so that they are aware of these concerns  as they schedule committee
votes in the coming weeks.

Sincerely, Yours,

Your Name, Address, District.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Sample  Letter  V: To News  Media,  Institutions'  Leaders, Mayors and
Governors

Date

Dear  [Name]:

I am certain that  you are aware that there  is a growing backlash against
immigrants in this country.  This backlash may very  soon take the form of
legislation that will dramatically restrict legal immigration for years to
come.

Of the  most   urgent concern is the  Smith   Bill, H.R.  1915,  which  is
currently pending  in Congress.  This  bill would slash family immigration
to  the United States all  the way down  to 330,000 (the present number is
about 480,000)! Under this  bill's provisions, adult children and brothers
and  sisters   of U.S.   citizens  could   no   longer immigrate  at  all!
Immigration by spouses and children of lawful permanent residents would be
limited to 85,000 visas per year.  Parents would only  be allowed to enter
if 50% of their children lawfully reside in the U.S. and if those children
purchase pre-paid health insurance for the parent.

This harsh immigration reduction bill  has been "marked  up" by the  House
Immigration  Subcommittee on July  20.   It was tentatively scheduled  for
full Judiciary Committee action on August 1 but now is postponed until the
mid -  September due to  the  vigorous lobby.  The Senate may  soon have a
company  bill, and Congress could  enact  this legislation soon after they
return in September.

It is imperative that every person  who opposes such drastic reductions in
legal immigration let Congress know that these proposals are unacceptable!
Members  of Congress will be  in their home districts  in August.  We urge
you to set up a meeting with the Senators  and Representatives during this
recess.  If you cannot arrange  a  visit, we  urge you  to  write a letter
expressing the concerns. Thank you.

[You could add your own story and voice on your own needs as a person with
family from abroad; your own voice in support of continued immigration].

Sincerely Yours,

Your Name and Address

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