ICYMI: Barron’s Covers Stand Together’s Summit Immigration Remarks
(Arlington, VA) – Barron’s published an article highlighting the efforts of The LIBRE Initiative and Americans for Prosperity. Read the entire article here.
Below are excerpts from the piece.
Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch’s influential network of donors and business leaders is continuing its years-long push for immigration reform, even as hope for any immigration legislation in Congress has faded.
The “broken” immigration system in the U.S. “is a lose-lose situation, and hurtful to American citizens and immigrants alike,” said Jorge Lima, a senior vice president at the Koch-funded political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity.
“It keeps out too many good people who would contribute to this country, and incentivizes illegal entry,” Lima said at a recent conference here hosted by “Stand Together,” Koch’s network of nonprofit advocacy groups. During his speech, Lima said Americans for Prosperity would be “teaming up with many more partners” this fall to “launch a major new campaign to build more empathy and spark further action.”
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“Respecting the dignity of every person and securing our borders are not mutually exclusive,” Lima said. “We can have both, and anyone who tells you otherwise is not interested in actually solving this problem.”
In June, groups backed by the Kochs brought a group of immigrants—including so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children—to the Nasdaq stock exchange to ring the opening bell, along with corporate partners including Microsoft .
The Koch network has pushed for years to create “certainty” for the Dreamers.
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“America is missing out on the full contribution to our local communities” the Dreamers could offer with full legal status, Lima said.
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For interviews with a representative from the LIBRE Initiative, please contact Brian Faughnan, 202-805-1581 or Wadi Gaitan, 202-853-4433
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