Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California says the public emotion surging around efforts to overhaul the nation’s immigration policy is the greatest she has seen since her 1992 election.

The Democrat said the topic hasn’t translated into the 30,000-plus phone calls to her office that would mean “something is really going on” in the nation’s most populous state, but the enthusiasm of opinion is fervent.

“We’re dealing with an issue about which people have very strong, very deeply set views,” Mrs. Feinstein said.

She said most of the nearly 8,000 calls her office has fielded have been “very hostile and very negative” despite polls that show up to 80 percent of Californians support legalizing “undocumented workers.”

From the Western border states to the heartland and the East Coast, lawmakers are being flooded with constituent calls as the Senate considers mechanisms for granting citizenship to some of the estimated 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the United States and ways to improve border security and the nation’s guest-worker program.

The office of Sen. Johnny Isakson, Georgia Republican, says it has received several thousand calls, the majority from people opposing what they call “amnesty” for aliens who entered the country illegally. Nearly all 5,000 callers to Mr. Isakson’s office expressed disapproval of the Senate plan.

“We’re still getting calls on other topics, such as Iraq, gas prices and hate crimes, but these topics are generating less than a dozen calls each per day,” said Isakson spokeswoman Joan Kirchner.

A staffer for Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, says: “The phones have been off the hook.”

The pressure on legislators mounted immediately after a bipartisan group of senators announced their intentions on immigration reform last week. Lawmakers expect to get an earful from constituents when they go home this weekend for the Memorial Day recess.

I’ve called my congressman and one senator. The other senator’s phones are constantly busy. They’d better go on a secret vacation next week or their ears will be burning about this issue. People on both sides of the aisle are upset about this.

Source.