A top U.S. labor union, the Service Employees International Union, SEIU, unveiled a million-dollar advertising campaign in support of immigration reform as the as the bill hit the Senate floor Tuesday. The cable TV campaign shows the perspectives of Republicans, law enforcement, business owners, veterans and undocumented immigrants who support comprehensive immigration reform. The legislation which was the brain child of a bipartisan immigration reform group called the Gang of Eight and went before the Senate Tuesday. It provides a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S.
Senate Democrats and Republicans voted to allow debate on the major immigration reform bill Tuesday. Earlier in the day, President Barack Obama made a pitch for the legislation urging for senate to pass the bill by the end of the summer. He said that this legislation is the key to fixing the broken immigration system.
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Labor Unions and business leaders have gone back and forth over whether to support immigration reform. However, they reached an agreement on migrant workers earlier this year with the Gang of Eight that appeased them.
The SEIU represents 2.1 million American workers in many different service industries and has a track record for endorsing Democrats in political races. They have backed Obama most of his political career.
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"We're seeing a growing consensus across the country that we need to get immigration reform done and get it done now," said SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry in a statement. "These ads show the breadth of support for commonsense immigration reform and highlight the diverse voices that are integral to moving this debate forward."
Henry was present with President Obama, along with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donahue, at the White House Tuesday in support of the Senate immigration plan.
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An opposition organization, Crossroads GPS, a Karl Rove-backed conservative group that is against immigration reform, also launched an ad campaign, which they announced Monday. The $100,000 print and online ad buy advocates for a complete overhaul of the immigration system. The aim of the campaign is to target members of congress and will appear in Roll Call, The Hill, Politico and The Wall Street Journal's Washing D.C., edition. It has on it the signatures of over 50 Republican politicians, economists and business leaders. You can see their ad here.
"If we lose this opportunity to pass meaningful immigration reform, we will give President Obama an opening to shift immigration policy further to the left by executive fiat," said Crossroads GPS CEO Steven Law in a news release.
The SEIU ads will run CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, USA and ESPN and during the Sunday talk shows on NBC, CBS, Fox and ABC.
You can watch each ad below.
Safer Streets
Fix It
Dream
Honor
Now
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