< Back to current issue of Immigrant's Weekly
 From this page, in a few seconds, you can
directly contact lawmakers in the United States Congress to protest the new law and to ask
for a change.
PROCEDURE: If you have a browser, like
Netscape, that cuts and pastes online documents, simply put your mouse cursor at the
beginning of one of the letters below, that you wish to send to Congress, and drag the
mouse through the entire message to block-highlight it. Then, leaving it thus highlighted,
press on the topmost browser toolbar on Edit, then on Copy, then proceed to
the Senators Page or the Representatives Page. Once there, click on the email address of a
Senator or a Representative, place your mouse cursor in the message area of the
email window that appears, then press on this same window's toolbar at Edit,
then on Paste. The message will appear, and it is ready to send! If you add your
name and city and state at the bottom of the message, it will hold more weight with the
Members of Congress (see the note below). The message remains on the clipboard, so you can
paste in to as many addresses as you wish, by repeating the edit-paste procedure in the
next email window. If don't have a browser editor, or if you wish instead to simply write
a personal message of your own, skip the following letters and proceed directly to the Senators Page or the Representatives Page,
and click on the email address of your choice. For immediate attention and action, we also
have, on theSenators Page , a email utility that contacts
each member of the Immigration Committe, a sub-committee of the Senate Judiciary
Committee.
NOTE: If you are a US citizen or US legal resident, it is
recommended that you send a message only to the Senator from your state, or the
Representative from your district, and that you write in your name and city and state at
the end of the message. Most of these Congressional email addresses do have automatic
responses in a few minutes time. Nevertheless, in addition to these first responses,
lawmakers' offices are often instructed to especially notice and respond to messages from
their own geographical areas. If you don't know who the Representative from your district
actually is, click here on the House's Locator .
It will search and identify your Representative simply when you write in your zipcode.
Letters to Cut and Paste to Send to the Senate and to the House...
Letter Number One: Short, but Firm...
Dear Lawmaker,
I found out recently about the biased new immigration law, called the Illegal
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. The law seems very negative,
restrictive and anti-immigrant. I think it should be reformed, changed. or taken off the
books altogether. Thanks.
Letter Number Two: For Those Who know of People Affected by the Law...
Dear Lawmaker,
I have immigrant friends who have been drastically affected by the harsh new
immigration law called the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of
1996. I don't think that this law is in keeping with our wide tradition of being a nation
of immigrants and a country that bravely welcomes refugees and those who are in danger in
their own countries. Furthermore, the immigrants that I know are not criminals, but are
hard-working, kind, idealistic, decent people. This new law treats them the same as
hardened criminals, terrorists and drug-dealers. It threatens to break up families,
separate children from their parents,and summarily take away human and constitutional
rights of due process of law. Please do something to change this terrible law. Thanks.
Letter Number Three: Human Rights...
Dear Lawmaker,
America has a long-standing tradition of upholding human rights. We even condemn other
countries such as China for their abuses against human rights. And yet the new law,
recently passed last year, called the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act of 1996, denies basic human rights that are due to all people, no
matter what country they live in. For example, due process of law can be denied to those
who wish asylum in the United States by a summary removal of these people without their
case being even considered in a court of law. There are many other instances where this
law goes against our open-hearted, welcoming tradition as a country of immigrants.This
harsh new law should be reformed or changed and made more in line with America's long
tradition of protecting human rights rather than taking such rights away. Please do
something about this. Thanks.
Letter Number Four: For Those Who Sometimes Travel Abroad...
Dear Lawmaker,
As a person who travels abroad, I would like to call your attention to the harsh,
restrictive law that was passed last year called the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. When other countries begin to become aware of this
law, I'm afraid that they will react quite negatively to the ordinary rights of American
who are traveling in their land, and with some justification. The tenor of this new law is
unprecedented, and turns America into a country quite unfriendly to foreigners. It denies
due process to asylum-seekers. It turns against the ordinary, quietly-working immigrants
already here, and threatens to break up families. It promotes a kind of defensive phobia
against any foreigner traveling into America. I was shocked to read it and concluded that
it was passed, not in the true spirit of American law, but as a special-interest-group
ploy during election time. I would ask you to do something about changing, reforming or
repealing this terrible law as soon as possible. Thanks.
ILW.COM hosted the Micasa Sucasa website for many years. This file is a part of the archives of the site during that time.
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