In a span of nine weeks, The “Dollar-A-Person” National Immigration Reform AD Campaign raised over $73,000 from 14,000 individuals and 261 groups to place prominent ads in The Washington Post and The New York Times.  A quarter-page ad appeared on the Federal Page of The Washington Post on October 19, 2005 and a full-page ad appeared in The New York Times on October 21, 2005.

“The ad is the first of its kind placed in major newspapers to demonstrate broad community support for comprehensive immigration reform,” said Courtni Pugh, president of the NAKASEC Action Fund, the organization that anchored the campaign.  Ms. Pugh continued, “Across the country, immigrant rights, labor, faith-based, and business organization along with concerned constituents have rallied together to make our voices heard in Washington D.C.”

Please read below to learn more about our campiagn.

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With an undocumented population of more than 10 million people, growing public awareness that the immigration system is broken and introduction of the bi-partisan McCain-Kennedy bill (Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005), immigrant communities have an unprecedented opportunity to make a difference in the enactment of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) legislation in the coming year.

Our communities can lead the debate and ensure that any immigration reform bill that passes includes:
A path to legal permanent residency for hard-working immigrants who are now forced to live and work in the shadows;
Reform that reunite families by reducing the immigration backlogs;
A plan to manage the future flow of migrant workers that is designed to prevent abuse and exploitation, and that allows those who grow roots here to eventually apply for permanent residency;
Features that strengthen and protect worker rights so that our immigration laws can no longer be used as a tool to reduce wages and working standards;
Provisions to defend and protect immigrants' civil liberties and civil rights; and
Immigration relief for undocumented immigrant students who have grown up in this country and farmworkers whose work feed our nation.