Leadership

Hispanic Coalition Launches Campaign to Support Immigration Reform

An effort to mobilize Latino communities to push for comprehensive immigration reform will include 60 town hall meetings across the United States.

Immigration reform has been on the front burner for the 113th Congress, and the idea that a bill can be passed by summer seems to be gaining serious momentum. At the same time, a coalition of Latino organizations is taking to the road in a campaign to build grassroots support for comprehensive reform that includes principles of “family unity, due process, and a pathway to citizenship.”

Last week, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of 34 Latino organizations, announced the launch of the Latinos United for Immigration Reform (LUIR) campaign, an “unprecedented effort” to bring together leaders in the community in support of comprehensive immigration reform.

On its website, LUIR describes itself as a campaign “led by Latino leaders and organizations from across the political spectrum … coming together to urge the passage of comprehensive immigration reform.” It lays out the principles that the coalition believes should be included in an immigration reform bill.

“It is past time that our elected leaders hear our voices and heed our call to action,” Hector Sanchez, chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, said in a statement. “We will travel the country building a grassroots network that will ensure Congress hears our message loud and clear: fair, effective, comprehensive immigration reform before the August recess.”

The campaign includes in-district meetings with members of Congress during the spring recess, which continues through this week. Also on the agenda are a grassroots mobilization campaign, 60 immigration town halls throughout the U.S., and a commitment to ensure over 100,000 combined meetings, tweets, letters, calls, and emails to members of Congress.

“The groups in this coalition represent a wide variety of viewpoints, but we are united on what we believe should be the core principles of any comprehensive immigration reform package,” Janet Murguia, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, said in the statement. “This is a message we will take to our community and in turn, they will take to their elected representatives.”

(iStockphoto/Thinkstock)

Rob Stott

By Rob Stott

Rob Stott is a contributing editor for Associations Now. MORE

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