Advocacy Update
July 2009

The Immigration Train Is Moving
By Gregory Z. Chen, LIRS Director for Legislative Affairs

On June 25 President Obama convened a long-awaited White House summit with more than twenty Democratic and Republican lawmakers to move forward on immigration reform. The meeting offered the critical sign that our president is fully committed to finding a principled and practical solution to the one of the nation’s most difficult and controversial issues. Obama said they are not going to “put it off until a year,” or even a few years but will “start working on this thing right now.”

Long before you read this, new pundits will have spun and respun the true meaning of the summit. But one thing is clear: For weeks preceding the meeting, key lawmakers have been saying privately that there must be leadership from both the White House and Congress before immigration reform can happen. In news appearances at church rallies, Sens. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had been clearing the way for this debate. With Obama’s call for a “victory of practicality and common sense” the immigration train is now moving out of the station.

In the next six months all of us who care about the immigration issue must spread the word from station to station, church to church and town to town. Now is the time for an “all aboard!” call to every caring community and individual advocate to ensure that the reform train is filled to capacity with supporters.

We who support fair and humane immigration reform must redouble our efforts to counter voices of dissent that have already sent thousands of e-mails to the White House to stop the train in its tracks. Some are still calling for the impossible—such as deporting the millions of taxpaying working immigrants—or the inhumane—such as detaining thousands including families who pose no threat to us. Those are not smart or practical answers to a complex problem that will affect our society, economy and future.

As Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a leader in past immigration reforms, has said, “We’ve got one more chance to do this. If we fail this time, no politician is going to take this up for a generation, and that would be a shame for this country.”

Already hundreds of communities across the country have held town hall meetings and prayer vigils in support of positive change. Immediately before the White House meeting, immigration supporters held our own summit in Washington, D.C., that was topped off by a rally at Lutheran Church of the Reformation just behind the Capitol. Led off by the Rev. Conrad Braaten, leaders from more than 30 states and from Congress joined to chant “Yes, we can” in numerous languages.

Visit LIRS at www.lirs.org to get plugged in and join the campaign. Let your friends know change is coming!

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