Press Release
Monday, June 1
st
Momentum for Immigration Reformbuilds in Tennessee, throughoutNation
Community leaders join together in national Reform Immigration ForAmerica campaign
Nashville, TN
–Local labor, faith, business, and immigrant leaders from throughout Tennesseegathered today to proclaim their support for immigration reform. As partners of theReformImmigration FOR America Campaign, a broad-based national effort to fix the broken immigrationsystem through a comprehensive legislative approach, these community leaders demonstratedthe diverse coalition that is spearheading the movement for reform.Avi Poster, president of the Coalition for Education about Immigration, kicked off the event,saying, "comprehensive immigration reform is long overdue, as evidenced by the increasingrancor that has defined national and local conversations about immigration and the regressiveways in which communities have responded to the problems created by our broken nationalimmigration system." He continued, "unfortunately, the absence of reform has given rise to theadoption of local public policies that aggravate rather than solve problems.” Throughout the conference, speakers kept returning to one central theme: “Immigration is what’sright for the economy, it’s what’s right for our families, and it’s what’s right for America,” saidRemziya Suleyman, policy coordinator for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. The Vice-President of Program Service for Community Nashville, Anthony Johnson, added,“America is built on a system of values that embraces everyone. Unfortunately, the currentsystem is an affront to those values, and needs to be reformed immediately.”Some of the leaders are headed to Washington, D.C. this week as part of a national summit onimmigration reform. Coming exactly a week before President Obama holds a top-level meetingabout immigration with key Congressional members, the conference and the summit serve as
The Coalition for Education about Immigration (CEI) is a grassroots organization devoted to facilitating educated, rationaland informed conversation on immigration and related issues. www.educationaboutimmigration.com
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