December 5, 2005

The Honorable Roy Blunt                                                       The Honorable David Dreier

Majority Leader                                                                      Chairman

U.S. House of Representatives                                               House Committee on Rules

H-107, The Capitol                                                                 H-312, The Capitol

Washington , DC                                                                    Washington , DC

Dear Leader Blunt and Chairman Dreier,

            I am encouraged by House leadership and the Administration's renewed emphasis on immigration reform and border security. As I have traveled to our nation's borders and around the country, I have seen firsthand the toll that lax enforcement takes on our nation's security, economy and identity. The American people have long called for us to fix our broken system, and now this Congress might answer.

Members of Congress rarely have an opportunity to rewrite federal immigration law. This instance will be the first significant debate of its kind in nearly a decade, and it could not have come at a more critical time for the country. As such, I hope to work with you to ensure a robust debate that will permit all members an opportunity to put forth their ideas as part of this discussion. This opportunity is too important and too rare to take ideas off the table.

            Our border crisis is multi-faceted---it has created problems on many policy fronts that one would not think pertain to immigration. For each problem Members will want to propose a solution, and as a courtesy to you, I have listed some of the proposals from my colleagues on the House Immigration Reform Caucus below.

Fixing our Broken Borders:

• Begin building a border security fence
• Put military on the border
• End 'catch and release' 
• Mandate passport usage for everyone traveling internationally 
• Make volunteer border patrol a sanctioned federal activity 
• Suspend visa waiver program

Enforcing the Law throughout our Country:

• Require a federal response when local law enforcement asks to have illegal aliens arrested 
• Restrict federal money that goes to local governments that have illegal alien sanctuary policies
• Close the loophole which allows religious organizations and their agents to be immune from illegal alien harboring laws
• Make a DUI a deportable offense 
• Increase penalties for smuggling of illegal aliens
• Increase penalties for terrorists  who are illegal aliens
• Increase penalties for gang members who are illegal aliens
• Draft minimum standards for birth certificates and birth/death registries
• Make unlawful presence in the U.S. a felony

Stopping Businesses from Hiring Illegals:

• Make employment verification mandatory
• Eliminate the business tax write-off for illegal workers
• Increase the penalty for employers who hire illegal aliens
• Make businesses who hire illegal aliens ineligible for future guest workers

Reducing the Incentive to Come Illegally:

• Disallow all federal funding from going to states that offer in-state tuition to illegal aliens 
• Disallow the matricula consular card as a legal form of identification
• Reform the use of ITINs
• Eliminate social security totalization for illegal aliens

Disentangling Foreign Policy from Immigration:

• Block any immigration provisions from being inserted into trade bills 
• Block visas to countries that refuse to take their nationals back 
• Reduce the availability of yearly legal visas per country by the number of illegal aliens from such country

Restoring the Meaning of Citizenship:

• End birthright citizenship for illegal aliens
• Eliminate dual citizenship
• Make English the official language
• Write the oath of citizenship into law

Reforming Legal Immigration:

• Eliminate the visa lottery
• Eliminate chain migration 
• Eliminate H-1B visas
• Eliminate unskilled worker green cards
• Create a Department of Immigration or a cabinet-level agency 

            Like most Americans, I am optimistic about the soon-to-be introduced Chairman's mark on this issue, and I am hopeful it will contain many of these provisions.

            If, however, the base bill does not include these components, we hope that you will pass a rule for its consideration that will allow for an open debate that will permit these and other proposals to be offered as amendments. While not all of these solutions will become law, at this critical juncture, I believe it would be in the best interest of the American people for each proposal to be given an up-or-down vote.

            Thank you in advance for your consideration.

                                                                                    Sincerely

                                                                                    Tom Tancredo

                                                                                    Chairman

                                                                                    House Immigration Reform Caucus