This Week in Immigration Reform – Week Ending May 31

Week Ending May 31

This week in immigration reform:  Senators return to their home states during the May recess, meeting with constituents before the Senate resumes next week and begins considering the immigration bill, S. 744.  Meanwhile, NCLR staff and Affiliates take advantage of their senators returning home by leading marches and rallies for reform, hosting and attending listening sessions, and meeting with their senators, and new studies show additional ways that immigration reform is good for the country.  To stay abreast of the Senate’s immigration activity, stay tuned to NCLR’s blog and Twitter feed for the latest updates.

• NCLR and Affiliates in action.

Ohio:  Former Emerging Latino Communities Initiative grantee HOLA and current NCLR Affiliates El Barrio and Nueva Luz Urban Resource Center led a rally and march through Cleveland on May 29, urging Congress to pass immigration reform this year.  As members of the Hispanic Alliance, the three organizations joined the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), AFL-CIO, Ohio Prophetic Voices, ACLU, and others, marching from Cleveland’s Willard Park to Public Square and proceeding past the office of Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH).  Afterward, participants sent photos of the event to Senator Rob Portman’s (R-OH) office.

Supporters of immigration reform march in Cleveland, Ohio on May 29 (photo: HOLA)

Connecticut:  NCLR Affiliate the Center for Latino Progress met with Senator Blumenthal (D-CT) on Friday, May 31 to talk immigration reform.

North Carolina:  NCLR Affiliate and Emerging Latino Communities Initiative grantee El Pueblo, Inc. teamed up with the We Are NC coalition and met with Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) on Thursday, May 30 to urge the senator to support immigration reform with an achievable roadmap to citizenship.

Tennessee:  NCLR Affiliate Latino Memphis met with staff of Senators Alexander (R-TN) and Corker (R-TN) on Tuesday, May 28 to discuss immigration reform.  Both senators’ staff invited Latino Memphis to provide the senators with detailed input on what its ideal immigration reform legislation would look like.

Wisconsin:  NCLR Affiliates hosted two of Senator Johnson’s (R-WI) “Immigration Bill Listening Sessions” this week, with Affiliate UMOS [GW1] hosting on May 28 and Affiliate Centro Hispano hosting on May 29.  Senator Johnson proposed these listening sessions to learn what his constituents want from immigration reform, and UMOS and Centro Hispano report that both sessions featured diverse audiences—including leaders from the business, faith, and Latino communities—with large majorities in support of the Senate’s immigration reform bill.

Washington, DC:  On the Hill, NCLR staff met with the staff of Senators Reid (D-NV), Menendez (D-NJ), McCaskill (D-MO), Pryor (D-AR), Manchin (D-WV), Rockefeller, (D-WV), Landrieu (D-LA), Portman (R-OH), and Heitkamp (D-ND), and the staff of the Senate Committee on Finance.

NCLR Affiliates:  To share your recent meetings on immigration with your members of Congress, please fill out the report-back form on our website.

Please join NCLR for a call on immigration reform on Thursday, June 6 by registering here.

• NCLR released another “Truth in Immigration” infographic this week explaining that undocumented immigrants pay taxes.  Allowing the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country to earn citizenship would add up to $5.4 billion to federal tax revenues in just three years.  Share this infographic on Facebook, and check the “Truth in Immigration” web page frequently for additional infographics.
  

• New studies show additional ways that immigration reform is good for our country:  immigration reform will boost the housing market and help sustain Medicare.  The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals calculated in a recent study that the Senate’s current immigration bill would, if passed in its current state, add over $500 billion to the U.S. housing economy.  NAHREP estimated that up to three million newly legalized persons would pursue homeownership, thus adding hundreds of billions in sales, income, and spending.A new study published in Health Affairs finds that, from 2002 to 2009, immigrants contributed $115 billion more to Medicare than they drew out.  The authors attribute this surplus to the younger age profile and high labor force participation rates of immigrants.  Immigration reform will add to Medicare as immigrants continue to bolster the sustainability of the program.

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