Harry Reid’s amnesty bill must be crushed, says philanthropist

When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid faced low poll numbers and the threat of being replaced by a Republican on November 2, he quickly promised Latinos in Nevada that he would push for the DREAM Act, which would be a surreptitious amnesty program for illegal aliens.

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It is believed this promise brought out droves of Hispanics to vote for him and many observers suspect some of them were illegal aliens. Now that Harry Reid has been re-elected, if he proposes an amnesty bill -- as he promised during his campaign -- in the lame duck session of congress, the consequences of this will be disastrous for unemployed Americans and must be crushed, according to the Coalition to Protect American Workers founder Henry Buhl, a philanthropist, community activist and art collector residing in New York. Buhl's organization is the only full time humanitarian alternative to Federal detention and deportation for illegal immigrants. CPAW pays illegal immigrants seeking voluntary repatriation to return home. "There are currently between 4-6 million illegal immigrants working in the United States," Buhl says. "A successful amnesty bill will take away desperately needed jobs for Americans at lower prices." Life for illegal immigrants can be quite grim. Instead of living the American dream, many live in impoverished conditions and cannot find employment. Many want to return home, but cannot because they lack resources and fear the government. Yet they would readily welcome private assistance to repatriate. CPAW fully embraces legal immigration to the United States. The organization claims to seeks qualified referrals to assist immigrant individuals and families unlawfully present in the United States who wish to return home. New York City-based group believes that illegal immigration hurts the poorest of Americans, the unemployed, the homeless, the helpless who rely on strained social services, and face excessive job competition. CPAW believes it is not possible in this declining economy for unlawfully present, mostly low-wage workers, to be an economic asset. Rather, in an era of constrained or diminishing social services and low-wage jobs, such unfair competition only serves greedy employers and hurts Americans whose education, training and potential skills are limited. CPAW does not propose voluntary repatriation as a solution to the "intractable" illegal immigration problem. It is a solution for people who want to go home and for those who want to avoid costly federal detention and deportation proceedings. In fact, privately funded repatriation can be achieved typically at less than 10 percent of full federal detention and deportation costs. This is a savings to the American taxpayer and affords a more dignified departure from America for the illegal immigrant. Coalition to Protect American Workers: