Earlier this week I was in DC, where I participated in Hold Their Feet to the Fire 2007 organized by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
For four days, concerned citizens come to the nation’s capitol to lobby elected officials to do the job only Americans can do: secure our borders and protect American workers.
Mobilized by talk radio hosts like Roger Hedgecock, citizen-lobbyists make congressional visits to ascertain Members’ positions on amnesty, guest worker programs and employer sanctions.
If they encounter any flak, they are instructed to call the communications center which relays the information to Talk Radio Row and Bloggers Row. They in turn alert their listeners and readers to light up the congressperson’s switchboard and overload the server with email.
Their goal as stated by FAIR President Dan Stein:
There’s an old expression that if you want to get politicians to see the light make them feel the heat. The collective energy over the next several days during Hold Their Feet to the Fire is guaranteed to make the special interest and open border politicians sweat. We are united here in Washington to oppose yet another plan from Congress and the White House to grant amnesty for illegal aliens and we are here to say enough is enough and to hold our elected representatives accountable.
The agenda included a private screening of Chris Burgard’s "Border," a film that graphically captures the chaos on our southern border and illegal aliens disrespect for American sovereignty and the rule of law.
Night after night illegal aliens trespass and trash private property and public lands, where they tear down fences and leave behind mounds of empty water bottles, clothing and backpacks.
"Border" also tells the story of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a group of citizens who stepped in to do the job that President Bush refused to do. Armed with little more than determination, these citizen-sentries serve as additional eyes and ears for the woefully understaffed Border Patrol.
While Bush dismissed these fed-up Americans as "vigilantes," public pressure forced him to deploy 6,000 National Guard troops to the border. Today, Guardsmen occupy the spaces where citizen-sentries used to sit in their lawn chairs.
For info on how you can get involved, click here.
