September 19, 2006
Dear Member,
The undersigned organizations and individuals, concerned about immigrant, civil rights and national security, respectfully write to urge you to strongly oppose any attempts to use the appropriations process for FY 2007, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations bill, to attach extraneous provisions not included in the appropriations bills that House and Senate have already passed or will consider.
It is our understanding, for example, that some Members of Congress are seeking to attach complex, controversial and unrelated immigration provisions to the DHS Appropriations bill either prior to the Conference Committee's final vote or even after this vote.
We strongly oppose any attempts to impose ill-conceived measures by stealth. Any due process or enforcement-only related immigration proposals should be debated in the light of day and in the context of a Congressional debate and national dialogue on immigration reform, rather than hidden within the appropriations process. Such a flawed process will engender controversy and acrimony, and will deter, rather than facilitate, fixing our broken immigration system and securing our borders.
The FY 2007 DHS Appropriations bills passed by both Houses of Congress already
provide substantial increases in border protection and security. Majority Leader Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) has acknowledged that both Houses have taken important steps in this bill toward securing America's borders. Any attempt to add controversial provisions will hold up the appropriations process.
We strongly believe that an enforcement-only approach or measures that diminish due process will not solve our nation's broken immigration system. We urge you to support comprehensive immigration reform and reject a piecemeal, enforcement-only approach to reform.
Sincerely,
Agencia ALPHA, Boston, Massachusetts
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
American Immigration Lawyers Association
Asian American Justice Center
Asian Law Caucus, San Francisco, California
Capital Area Immigrants' Rights (C.A.I.R.) Coalition, Washington, D.C.
Center for Community Change
Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
Center for Victims of Torture
Central American Resources, Houston, Texas
Centre Presente, Boston, Massachusetts
Casa de Esperan/a, Bound Brook, New Jersey
CENTRO HISPANO "Cuzcatlan," Queens, New York
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles – CHIRLA
FIRM (the Fair Immigration Reform Movement)
Grupo Cajola, Morristown, New Jersey
Hastings College of the Law, University of California, San Francisco, California
Hate Free Zone, Seattle, Washington
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
Idaho Community Action Network (ICAN)
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights
Immigrant Legal Resource Center
Korean American Resource & Cultural Center (KRCC), Chicago, Illinois
Korean Resource Center (KRC), Los Angeles, California
Kurdish Human Rights Watch, Inc.
La Raza Centro Legal, Day Labor Program, San Francisco, California
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, San Francisco, California
Legal Momentum
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS)
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA)
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, Minneapolis
The Multiracial Activist, Alexandria, Virginia
National Capital Immigration Coalition, Washington, D.C.
National Council of La Raza
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
National Immigrant Justice Center
National Immigration Forum
National Immigration Law Center
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
New York Immigration Coalition, New York, New York
Northern California Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride Coalition
Northwest Federation of Community Organizations (NWFCO)
Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center, York, Pennsylvania
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF)
St. Brigid's Casa Mary Johanna, Westbury NY
Tahirih Justice Center, Falls Church, Virginia
Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC)
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
UNITE HERE
Vermont Refugee Assistance, Montpelier, Vermont
Washington Defender Association's Immigration Project, Seattle Washington
Young Korean American Service Education Center (YKASEC), New York, NY
Individuals
Silvia Alber-Glanstaetten
Attorney at Law
4900 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington. D.C.
Heather Robert Coffhian, Esq.
Co-Chair, Immigration Committee, National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area
Chapter
Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale, LLP
San Francisco, California
Ms. Gittel Gordon
Law Office of Gittel Gordon
Certified Specialist
Immigration and Naturalization
California State Board of Legal Specialization
Rose M. Grengs
Grengs Law Office
2269 Clark Street
Eagan, Minnesota
Karla Han-
Law Office of Karla Harr
2007 N. 15th St., Ste. 100
Arlington, Virginia
Wei-Ling Huber
El Sobrante, California
Daniel M. Kowalski
111 Congress Avenue, Fourth Floor
Austin, Texas
Linda B. Levy
Immigration Attorney
LAW OFFICES OF LINDA B. LEVY
1719 Capistrano Avenue
Berkeley, California
Lynn Marcus,
Director, Immigration Law Clinic,
University of Arizona Rogers College of Law, Pennsylvania
Toni Maschler, Esq.
Law Offices of Richard Bromberg
2011 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Ste 500
Washington, DC
Estelle McKee
Associate Lecturer
Univ. of Wisconsin Law School
Nancy Morawetz
Professor of Clinical Law
New York University School of Law
Seth Newton
AFSCME Local 3299
Oakland, California
Nagaraja Rao
Chairman, Contra Costa County Democratic party
4724 Castilla Ave , Richmond, California
Maria E. Rivera
Immigration Attorney
5715 Alpine Road
San Pablo, California
Tom Ryan
SF Labor Council Community Services Director
San Francisco, California
Ragini Shah
Clinical Staff Attorney
Child Advocacy and Immigration Clinic
Columbia University Law School
New York, New York
Jenni Strecker-Langenberg
UC Berkeley School of Law
Berkeley, California