Advocacy Groups Work to Strengthen Their Influence on Immigration Laws

The last time Congress considered legislation to change the immigration system, a then-19-year-old Mexican immigrant named Flor mostly shied away from the discussion.

Now, three years later, she has met with members of her local chamber of commerce and traveled to Las Vegas to call on Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, to support a new law. And last month, she took a bus to Washington to march for legislation to give people like her a chance to become legal residents. (She asked that her last name not be used because of her status.)

Stung by the collapse in 2007 of federal legislation to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, groups that advocate for immigrants are trying to strengthen their grass-roots power by reaching out to people like Flor and helping them become savvy advocates.

With support from a handful of national and local foundations, advocacy groups have also focused on efforts to make stronger allies of labor organizations, religious leaders, businesspeople, and other minorities, especially blacks. What’s more, they have become more aggressive in countering attacks on immigrants in the news media and more focused on identifying persuasive arguments for immigration.

Still Optimistic

The economic downturn and the bitter fight over health care dashed advocates’ hopes that a new U.S. policy on immigration would be passed during Barack Obama’s first year as president. The two developments have made their job now much tougher.

But activists insist they are optimistic and say they will do everything they can to convince Congress to pass a bill this spring, before many lawmakers’ attention turns to winning re-election in November.

“The groups have gotten smarter,” says Geri Mannion, director of the U.S. democracy and special opportunities fund at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, which has long supported organizations that work with immigrants. “They’ve gotten much better at communicating their messages. They’ve thought a lot about who they need to have at the table to get this done.”

Sharper Messages

Opponents of a law that would grant more people a chance to become legal residents say organizations that support immigrants have gotten sharper in their messages.

“We see that in the blogosphere,” says Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, a group that pushes for lower levels of immigration. “Their opposition research and opposition attacks are much strengthened.”

But he says he doesn’t see evidence that the groups are helping to persuade more American voters. And, he says, passing legislation when the unemployment rate hovers around 10 percent would be “political lunacy.”

Mr. Beck says his group will focus on that message in the next few months. NumbersUSA has both a charity and an advocacy arm; the charity receives about 70 percent of its money from foundations, he says.

Pro-immigrant groups, meanwhile, are hammering away at messages about the additional tax revenue that a new immigration policy would bring—an estimated $5-billion over the next three years, according to two nonprofit research groups.

The new strategy of organizations that support immigrants’ rights has emerged out of a series of studies and meetings following the 2007 defeat of immigration legislation.

One offshoot has been a new group called America’s Voice, whose mission is to communicate to Americans the arguments for a new immigration policy and to “go for the jugular,” as one advocate put it, in attacking what they consider misinformation.

Bringing In Money

Atlantic Philanthropies, a Bermuda-based grant maker that does not face the same restrictions on lobbying as U.S. foundations, has given $3.75-million to America’s Voice; Carnegie and other donors support its charitable arm, called America’s Voice Education Fund.

Another new group, called Reform Immigration for America, was created last year to expand the movement beyond the nation’s capital. It has hired about 70 people to organize regional and local grass-roots efforts.

In addition to the money from Atlantic Philanthropies, other national foundations have put in more than $30-million this year to help support the public-education work of those groups and many other efforts to protect immigrants’ rights and help immigrants integrate into society.

The advocacy organizations are also trying to raise money from individuals, both by wooing wealthy people supportive of their cause and by using e-mail appeals and text messages to reap small donations.

On a recent March day, Reform Immigration for America received $30,000 online, a modest amount but one that advocates say has left them optimistic about the possibility of raising more.

Roughly 120,000 people have signed up to stay in touch with the campaign via cellphone by texting the word “justice” in Spanish or English to 69866. Its advocacy arm has also set up phone banks in states and is calling voters to ask them to contact their Congressional representatives and press for a new law. Around the time of the March rally in Washington, the effort helped to generate 140,000 faxes to members of Congress in support of legislation.

Advocates for a new bill say such efforts were lacking last time around; in 2007 people who opposed the legislation called Congress at many times the rate of those who supported it, they say.

Speaking Out

Julie Gonzales, who leads the work of Reform Immigration for America in Colorado, says immigration advocates are becoming more comfortable speaking out.

“The difference I see is that in 2006, people were marching against a policy,” she says. “We weren’t able to successfully translate that energy and momentum into legislative power. This time, it’s much deeper political power.”