San Diego heads the field with unique immigration reform lobby

Disparate interests including organised labour, high-tech companies, civil liberties activists, police chiefs, progressive clergy and conservative pastors all joined a novel lobby in San Diego.

The coalition thus formed, San Diegans United for Common Sense Immigration Reform, is the first such to surface during the long-running fight to mend the broken US Immigration system. At a Sorrento valley news conference, leader of the group announced several consensus principles, but provided only a few detailed propsoals.

Central to the ground-breaking campaign is the creation of a road to citizenship to be travelled by the 11 million illegals at present living in the USA. The streamlining along market-driven lines of the entire immigration process is a second priority, aimed at responding more easily to business needs.

Chairman of the coalition Nathan Fletcher told the media that the US economy and its public safety depends on the lawmakers getting it right this time. Fletcher is senior director at Qualcom, which is struggling to fill jobs due to the inability of skilled overseas workers to get visas.

Other objectives include the protection of civil liberties through the thwarting of illegal immigration and the tightening of the country’s borders using smart technology rather than more fences and guards. It’s becoming more likely that the president and Congress may tackle the immigration debacle as early as late spring or early summer.

Proposals already on the table may turn out to be as far-reaching as the 1986 immigration changes under President Reagan. The newly-formed coalition will need to offer detailed plans on ending the encouragement of illegal immigration if its contributions are to be taken seriously by Congress.