AP Highlights Immigrants' List and Power of a PAC‏

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AP Highlights Immigrants' List and Power of a PAC‏

Doing nothing is not a solution. Immigrants' List is a Political Action Committee (PAC) dedicated to electing members of Congress who support common-sense immigration reform. If you care about immigration reform, please make a contribution to fight back against the scare tactics and misinformation being deployed by opponents of reform.

Dear Friends:

I hope you enjoyed a happy Thanksgiving. As the executive director of Immigrants' List, my holiday was especially brightened by last week's Associated Press news article highlighting our work and the power of a PAC. This Associated Press article ran in major media outlets, including the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Houston Chronicle, Boston Globe, Charlotte Observer, Kansas City Star, Miami Herald, Omaha World-Herald, Dayton Daily News, ABC News, and PBS.

Media coverage of this kind is priceless; it can put an organization on the political radar of Washington lawmakers. But, it also fuels the fundraising engine of the other side. Within minutes of reading the article about our efforts, opponents of sensible immigration reform were calling it "lies" and "propaganda."

We are making headway in the fight for common-sense immigration reform, but we have a long way to go before we can command the kind of political clout necessary to make it a reality. Do not doubt that our opponents, who raised and spent more than $1 million dollars in the 2008 election cycle, will be doing everything they can to help elect candidates who stand in the way of responsible immigration reform.

As we head into the important 2010 election year, with your help, Immigrants' List can show Congress that Americans are ready for real reform.

Immigrants' List owes its success to you and the many others who have demonstrated their commitment to common-sense immigration reform. As this year draws to a close, I hope you will consider making an end of year contribution to IL. Print out this e-mail, put it in that file, and consider us when you take out your checkbook.

We also hope you'll continue to support us by spreading the word about us to your friends and family. Here's to all that we can do in 2010!

Thank you,

Amy Novick
Executive Director
Immigrants' List

Pro-immigration reform PACS growing in influence
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ (AP) - Nov 25, 2009

MIAMI - Two fledgling political action committees that support allowing some illegal immigrants to become citizens are raising more money than their immigration-control counterparts, signaling a possible fundraising shift ahead of next year's congressional races.

Immigrants' List and ImmigrationPAC, both established less than four years ago, have raised $100,000 combined this election cycle. That's a relatively small amount in the influential realm of PACs but still more than established groups that back enforcement-only policies, who have seen donations slow to a trickle.

"Even a small amount of pro-immigration reform PAC money, pro-immigration muscle, makes it a two-sided debate," said Tamar Jacoby, who heads ImmigrationWorks USA, a federation of mostly small and medium businesses that support a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants and streamlining the employment visa process.

The power of PACS goes far beyond their direct contributions to candidates. They also wield power by bundling smaller donations from individuals nationwide and directing those funds to politicians sympathetic to their causes.

The PACS - formed by immigration lawyers and other immigrant advocates - are among pro-immigrant groups seeing donations on the rise. Large foundations are donating millions to nonprofits that work with immigrants, although that money can't be used for campaigns.

Allen Brandstater, head of the PAC Americans Against Illegal Immigration, acknowledged the changing mood. His group, which raised $850,000 during the 2008 election cycle for mostly issue ads and mailers, the most of any of the immigration PACs, is "pretty much dormant right now," he said. Brandstater blamed the lack of support on the weak economy and on President Barack Obama and the Democratic-led Congress, which he believes are more likely to back legalization.

Brandstater also lamented that some donors have grown wary about associating themselves with his organization because of what he said was negative publicity in 2008.

"In the last election, you were called racist if you wanted to protect the sovereignty of our borders," he said.

Miami-based immigration attorney Ira Kurzban co-founded Immigrants' List, the nation's first major PAC to support legalization and other efforts to help U.S. residents and asylum seekers, in 2006. Kurzban says he looked around and saw nearly half a dozen political fundraising groups dedicated to enforcement-only immigration policies that appeared to have the ears of lawmakers.

Two years later, immigrant advocates in Illinois started ImmigrationPAC, now run by the Raben Group, a New York-based lobbying firm.

So far this election cycle, Immigrants' List and ImmigrationPac have raised $81,000, compared to about $71,000 by three enforcement-only committees, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics. That's minuscule compared to the National Rifle Association's PAC, which has $7.4 million in the same period, or to the financial might on both sides of the health care debate.

Still, Jacoby said she is seeing growing cash support from businesses. And major donors such as the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation and liberal financier George Soros' Open Society Institute have also allocated more to immigrant advocates and their allies.

Maria Teresa Rojas, who manages the Open Society Institute's immigration portfolio, said her foundation alone has allocated an extra $15 million to be spent over the next three years "to take advantage of what looks to be a historic opportunity to reform our immigration system." She cited the combination of a Democratic president and Congress.

Kurzban's group would like amnesty for those already in the U.S.; waivers for laws that automatically bar illegal immigrants from returning to the U.S.; statutes of limitation on some low-level crimes; overhaul of the visa system to accommodate changing demand (such as allowing India to have a few more spots than Switzerland); permission for illegal immigrants married to U.S. residents to adjust their status; and greater judicial oversight of rogue immigration agents.

Winning on any of those points will be a challenge. Enforcement-only PACs have been operating in Washington since the early 1990s. And there's no clear sign that the Democratic-led Congress has the stomach for a tough immigration debate any time soon, though the Obama administration has signaled that it wants to take up the issue next year.

Amy Novick, who heads Immigrants' List, said she is preparing for a long fight. Most of the initial donors to the committee were immigration lawyers. Now the group is looking to take a page out of the Obama campaign playbook, tapping into small, online contributors.

"There are tens of thousands of people in the U.S., citizens and residents, who have been touched by the immigration system," Novick said. "Their spouses, siblings, children may be here legally but may be stuck in the backlog and need relief."

Contributions or gifts to Immigrants' List are not tax deductible. Immigrants' List is a bipartisan political action committee (PAC) dedicated to electing members of Congress who support common-sense immigration reform. Immigrants' List can accept contributions from U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents of the United States. As a federally registered PAC, Immigrants' List cannot accept contributions from corporations, labor unions, foundations, national banks, or federal contractors. Contributions from $1 to a maximum of $5,000 per calendar year are gladly accepted.

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