A pro-immigration advocacy group led by billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg and media mogul Rupert Murdoch reportedly is launching a campaign to make an economic case for immigration reform.
The Partnership for a New American Economy's "Reason for Reform" initiative debuts Wednesday in every state with events, data-filled reports for each state and a digital crowdsourcing effort to collect stories of how immigration affects people in all 435 congressional districts, Politico reports.
"Together, those stories and the data make a compelling case: not only do Americans want immigration reform, our economy needs it," John Feinblatt, chairman of the new group, tells Politico.
The advocates are hoping to sway support with hard economic data, including:
- In Ohio, immigrants earned $15.6 billion in 2014, which left, after taxes, $11.1 billion in spending money;
- In Florida, 51 percent of agriculture workers are foreign born;
- In Nevada, companies in the state owned by immigrants generated $795.3 million in business income in 2014.
The last time lawmakers tackled reform in 2013, a measure from the "Gang of Eight" in the Senate was blocked in the House.
But according to Politico, though the House is likely to remain in Republican hands after November's election, the Senate is "up for grabs," with New York Sen. Chuck Schumer vowing to take up the issue if Senate Democrats win control.
Companies involved in the campaign include Intel, Pinterest and Google, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Western Growers Association, the American Farm Bureau and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Politico reports.
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