Oppose the SAVE Act (Shuler-Tancredo H.R. 4088)

The measure that would allow the government to jail religious and humanitarian workers for so-called “alien smuggling” is part of the SAVE Act (H.R. 4088). Introduced in November 2007, the bill is now being forced to a House floor vote and needs to be stopped.

Click here to find out if your Representative has signed the discharge petition for the Shuler-Tancredo (SAVE Act) bill that would allow the bill to come to the floor for a vote. Call your U.S. Representative TODAY and ask him/her to oppose the SAVE Act.

·        If your Representative has signed the petition, please contact him/her to express your disappointment.

·        If your Representative has not signed the petition, please urge him/her not to do so.

·        Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or email here

U.S. Catholic Bishops Oppose H.R. 4088

• The Bishops believe that this SAVE Act will drive undocumented immigrants underground even more than they are now, and will create persons without full rights in their communities. The SAVE Act will increase smuggling networks that exploit vulnerable migrants.

• The Catholic Bishops continue to urge Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform that:

-         addresses border security

-         unifies separated families

-         legalizes status for undocumented immigrants

-         protects immigration flows

Background:

• H.R. 4088 was introduced in November 2007 and is now being forced to a House floor vote by sponsors of the SAVE Act; Rep. Heath Shuler (D-North Carolina), Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-California), and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado).

• The SAVE Act will make it easier for the government to put religious and humanitarian workers behind bars for so-called “alien smuggling” and waste millions of tax-payer dollars on enforcement, detention and deportation programs that have been tried for the last twenty years and failed to end unauthorized immigration.

• H.R. 4088 does nothing to address comprehensive immigration reform. Instead this bill advances the broken system which exploits workers, fails to address migrant’s deaths in the desert, and brings fear to over three million U.S. child citizens living in constant fear that their parents will be deported.

• H.R. 4088 is a misguided political response to a policy problem where voters already have spoken.  The majority of Americans oppose rounding up and deporting 12 million undocumented immigrants as waste of federal dollars.