Reform Immigration FOR America Builds on April 10^th Momentum, Launches “Stand Up For Comprehensive Immigration Reform Campaign”

Campaign to Pressure Senators to Go on Record Supporting CIR

Washington D.C. – Today on a national press conference call, Reform Immigration FOR America announced a major new effort to demonstrate the wide support for comprehensive immigration reform, showcase the momentum built  for immigration reform at April 10^th events across the country, and highlight why it makes political sense to pass comprehensive immigration reform this year.

At rallies and events across the country on April 10^th, reform advocates built even more momentum for action on comprehensive immigration reform this year. Senate Democratic Leadership was present at major events in Las Vegas, Chicago, and Seattle,  and the commitments from Senators Majority Leader Reid, Assistant Majority Leader Durbin, and Senate Democratic Conference Leader Murray to act on comprehensive immigration reform this year were unequivocal. Senator Reid revealed that there were 56 Democratic votes for comprehensive reform in the Senate, pledged to work on reform immediately, and challenged the Republicans to come up with at least 5 votes of their own. Additionally, the campaign organized more than 10 major events on April 10^th, and organized nearly 80 town halls, business forums, telephonic town halls, faith events, student rallies and meetings with members or their senior staff in communities across the country during the Easter recess.

Pramila Jayapal, Executive Director of One America, the lead organization behind the Seattle rally featuring Senators Murray and Cantwell, said “Americans all over the country have been agitating, pushing, and organizing for reform. Our elected leaders have started to take notice. Strong grassroots leadership and action secured unequivocal commitments from both Senate Democratic Conference Leader Patty Murray and Senator Maria Cantwell. We’re proud of the results we’ve been able to achieve, but we won’t rest until we have comprehensive reform.”

Reform Immigration FOR America has launched a new effort: the “Stand Up for Comprehensive Immigration Reform” campaign that will highlight the supporters and opponents of reform in the U.S. Senate on a “Change Takes Courage” list.  The campaign will encourage and call on Senators to state their position “on the record” in order to be counted either for or against reform this year.   Coming out of the spring recess and the events of April 10^th, the list has grown to twelve declared supporters, including Republican Senators Judd Gregg and Lindsey Graham, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Assistant Majority Leader Durbin, and Democratic Conference Leader Patty Murray. “Stand Up for Comprehensive Immigration Reform” will be pressuring Senators in the next few weeks to take a stand. The campaign will keep a list of “Leaders and Losers” on their website so that Americans can keep track of who is for solving one of the country’s toughest problems and who is for maintaining the broken status quo.

“Reform Immigration FOR America has done some incredible work to build momentum for reform in the last few months,” said Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, and Chair of the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign. “Now we’re naming names. It’s time for elected officials to get on board, or get out of the way. The vast majority of the American people want Congress to act on this problem and we’ll be holding their elected leaders in Washington accountable.”

Reforming immigration isn’t just common sense, it makes political sense too. With a long history of bipartisan support, immigration reform represents a golden opportunity for the parties to work together and deliver for the country. It has the potential to motivate Latino voters disillusioned with the Democratic Party and allow Republicans to rehabilitate their tattered image with the fastest-growing group of new voters if they engage responsibly.

“It is a rare moment when policy urgency, moral imperative, and smart politics, line up behind an issue as powerfully as they do behind comprehensive immigration reform.  For the majority of American voters, reform is the clear answer because it will restore order where we now have chaos.  And for Latino voters, whose communities are living in a state of emergency due to Congressional and Presidential inaction, the time for solutions and for politicians to stand up and be counted is now.  The word in the mind of Latino voters is ‘accountability,’ and we will be taking note of who fights to deliver immigration reform this year, who stands in the way, and who sits on the sidelines,” said Clarissa Martínez De Castro, Director of Immigration and National Campaigns of the National Council of La Raza.

“Latino voters know that their votes count and that they can help, or hurt, political candidates, by showing up at the polls in November or simply staying home,” said Frank Sharry, Founder and Executive Director of America’s Voice. “The smart money for the mid-term elections will be on the candidates who understand this reality and recognize that doing nothing on immigration reform is akin to turning their backs on an increasingly powerful electorate.  Standing on the sidelines is no longer acceptable.”

To see who has stood up for reform, go here:

http://reformimmigrationforamerica.org/blog/stand_up/

Recording of today’s press conference is available here: http://tinyurl.com/Press041310

Transcript of today’s press conference will be available tomorrow here: http://tinyurl.com/Transcript041310