What can be done in this rabid anti-immigrant environment? It has been relatively easy to report on people being detained, laws being enacted, and the U.S. Senate bickering. However, its been near impossible to write about how to respond to this dilemma. The protests helped initially, but once the anti-immigrant side organized itself, there was no stopping the negative avalanche.
Now for a change, there is a group countering the new anti-immigrant measures...with PR - the Ayuda Business Coalition is making a statement with its new ads regarding immigration to be aired on CNN.
Hopefully this is just the beginning.
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Immigration Ad to Air This Weekend
Latino Group's Counterpoint Precedes Virginia Election
By Cecilia Kang
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 3, 2007; D01
A regional group of Latino business leaders is launching a television advertising campaign this weekend in hopes of countering anti-illegal-immigrant measures they fear will spread throughout Virginia.
The centerpiece is an ad that claims to show what happened when Riverside, N.J., passed a resolution penalizing employers who had hired illegal immigrants. Images of empty buildings and signs of shop liquidations and closures flash across the screen. The ad explains that Riverside rescinded its measure one year later.
"The moral: Virginia, let's be careful what we wish for," a narrator warns.
The ads are scheduled to air throughout Virginia on CNN several times over the weekend and on Tuesday, when the state is scheduled to hold elections.
In buying the commercial time, the business group, Ayuda Business Coalition, is taking a decidedly different approach in its fight against recent crackdowns on illegal immigrants than other groups, which have organized work boycotts and demonstrations.
"We want to do this in an organized way that doesn't expose us to look like we aren't respectable or disciplined," said Mariano Claudio, a coalition member.
Coalition members fear the recent passage of an anti-illegal-immigration resolution in Prince William County has created momentum for state legislators to introduce similar measures in the General Assembly when it convenes in January. Prince William lawmakers limited some social services to illegal immigrants and stepped up enforcement efforts against those who have been convicted of crimes.
"Some call what happened in Prince William a success. Our longer-term goal is to start building effective arguments for what we know is a fight coming in Richmond," said Mauricio Vivero, executive director of District-based immigrant advocacy group Ayuda, which is running the project.
The Ayuda Business Coalition encompasses about 100 business leaders and includes the head of the Salvadoran American Chamber of Commerce and Carlos Castro, the owner of Todos Market. The group said it has raised $100,000 for lobbying and media advertising. Sosa and Associates, a Latino-owned public relations firm, produced the TV commercial for free...
for complete article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110201891_pf.html
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