"Nashville is at a crucial juncture in its history. We are not yet a truly diverse city,
but we are about to become one, and the real question is, Can we do it right?"
At this morning's CEI meeting we decided to become a partner in a national effort called Reform Immigration for America. The mission of this national coalition is very similar to ours ... to educate the public on immigration issues and support comprehensive reform of our broken immigration system.
As you likely know already, President Obama is moving forward with addressing how to repair our immigration system through reform. To this end he is scheduled to begin conversations with Congress in the week ahead. Members organizations of this newly formed national coalition are simultaneously holding news conferences around the country on Monday to emphasize the need for reform and support the President's efforts. We decided this morning that we would do the same.
I know that this is short notice ... but am hoping that some of you will be able to join us on Monday at Loews. We have lined up several speakers who will give short addresses from different perspectives ... business, labor, religious, public policy, etc. The conference will be centered around CEI's statement of principles for reform that we collaboratively developed and adopted a couple of years ago and have honed since. We are hoping to have a large enough presence of members to demonstrate our commitment as well as have CEI members available to talk to guests and press who join us. Given the importance of this, whether or not you have been at a recent meeting of CEI, I am hoping you will give strong consideration to joining us on Monday. Hope to see you then.
CEI's principles for reform can be found on its web site:
CEI supports:
The development of opportunities to allow hard-working immigrants who are already contributing to this country to come out of the shadows, regularize their status after satisfying reasonable criteria, and over time, pursue and option to become lawful permanent residents, and eventually, United States citizens, if they choose to do so. Reforms in our family-based immigration system that honor humanitarian and American family values and significantly reduce waiting times for reuniting families in the United States, something that can take years, even decades under the current process. The development of legal avenues for new immigrant workers and their families who wish to migrate to the United States as well as the implementation of a safe, legal, and orderly process in which the rights of all workers are fully protected.
Effective border protection policies that are consistent with American humanitarian values and with the need to treat all individuals with respect. These policies will allow for critical and legitimate tasks of identifying and preventing entry into the United States by terrorists and dangerous criminals, implementing immigration policy, and maintaining the integrity of national borders.
The complete principles adopted by the Reform Immigration for America campaign are here.
