Jack & Jill Politics

For those of us who believe that it’s time for real immigration reform that deals fairly and humanely (and for the sake of our economy) with the millions of undocumented workers and families in the U.S., there’s good news. Late last  week, leaders of labor unions, business coalitions, civil rights and religious groups, and pro-immigrant advocacy organizations announced the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign (code name: RI4A).

The video above is from a Townhall with Members of Congress yesterday featuring Reform Immigration for America Summit Representative Luis Gutierrez (Illinois, 4th District) & William McNair (President, USAction). It’s fiery with a hip hop backbeat (of course!). During the RI4A launch summit, more than 125 congressional lobby visits were made to members of Congress by advocates from across the country. While the Summit was underway, dozens of national and local organizations issued coordinated action alerts that generated more than 45,000 faxes and phone calls to Members of Congress, including special emphasis on Reps. Pelosi, Hoyer and Van Hollen.

The Summit has gotten quite a bit of press. Here’s a long list of tv clips from around the country about the Summit and coinciding rallies/events were held across the country. People want change and are counting on President Obama to fulfill his campaign promises on immigration. In fact, Maegan La Mala of Vivir Latino took this video from the summit which has a message for the Obama Administration, which has postponed a meeting on immigration with lawmakers: Si Se Puede (Yes We Can). You can read her on-scene coverage here.

You can join the movement and send a message to Congress here. Obama’s on board, but only Congress can make the changes that will help American workers, families and get our economy back on track. Takes, like, 5 seconds, y’all — if you can spare it. You can follow @RI4A on twitter and check out their blog, too.

Note: RI4A is one of my clients. But they didn’t ask me to write this post. I just think it’s an important issue which is why I’m working on it. Give us a hand, will ya?