Thread: Zuckerberg immigration group launches 2016 reform blitz

Fwd.us is renewing its push to overhaul immigration laws after a failed effort two years ago.

By Anna Palmer
12/01/15 06:47 PM EST
Updated 12/01/15 08:07 PM EST

The Mark Zuckerberg-backed group that spent tens of millions on a failed bid for immigration reform is reigniting its efforts for the 2016 election.

Fwd.us is launching a multi-pronged campaign that could spend as much as $10 million over the next year on digital and TV ads, research and polling, according to plans first shared with POLITICO. The initiative includes an expansion of its ground operation into 12 states, focusing on presidential battlegrounds and targeted House seats held by Republicans.

The push comes as GOP front-runner Donald Trump has campaigned on mass deportations and building a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border. After the terrorist attacks in Paris, Trump called the Obama administration's plan to allow Syrian refugees in the country "insane." GOP 2016 hopefuls like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Ben Carson have followed suit.

Fwd.us is looking to counter the anti-immigration reform rhetoric in the GOP primary and lay the groundwork for an overhaul of the country's immigration laws in early 2017 once the next president takes office. Formed in 2013 by tech giants including Facebook's Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman and Eric Schmidt, among others, the group accounted for 75 percent of all paid media spent in 2013 and 2014 to support immigration reform and had field operations in 29 states and 149 target House districts at the peak of the debate.

"It's a good time to inform people of the stakes," said Rob Jesmer, a veteran Republican political operative and campaign manager at Fwd.us. "There is a lot of focus on one candidate, frankly," he added of Trump, "(but) there are several who are out of the mainstream. ... From a policy situation if we nominate any of those people we are going to lose. No two ways about it."

Immigration reform activists have also been critical of Sen. Bernie Sanders' comments on immigration reform over the past several months, including that he would oppose open borders.

"If we have a pro-reform Democrat and Republican, then this is great news," Jesmer said. "What the project looks like somewhat depends on who the candidate is."

Initial polling by Fwd.us focuses squarely on pushing back against Trump's plan for mass deportation.

Voters prefer a candidate who supports a pathway to citizenship over one who supports mass deportation, 74 percent to 18 percent, according to a survey conducted in October by Global Strategy Group that queried 600 likely general election voters in Colorado, Florida and Nevada. The poll also found that 55 percent of swing voters and 46 percent of voters who self-identified "not very conservative" oppose the "imposition of a U.S. police state."

Fwd.us was one of the most active pro-immigration reform groups after the 2012 election. The group drew criticism from progressives after its subsidiaries ran ads touting Republican lawmakers' support for the Keystone XL pipeline and positions on oil drilling in an attempt to give them political cover to back immigration reform.

A sweeping immigration bill passed the Senate in 2013 but stalled a year later in the Republican-controlled House.

Fwd.us isn't the only pro-immigration reform group working the issue this election cycle. Groups including SEIU, AFL-CIO, Mi Familia Vota, and the National Council of La Raza are working on registering and mobilizing voters in swing states like Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Wisconsin and Illinois.

Frank Sharry, a long-time advocate and head of the pro-reform group America's Voice, said most of the pro-immigration reform groups' focus is on turning out Latino and Asian American voters in key states.

"The goal is to create momentum for immigration policy reforms on the other side of the election," Sharry said. "The bottom line is we think there is a good chance that 2016 is going to be 2012 on steroids, with increased Latino and Asian American turnout. ... When it comes to general election time, the post-2012 GOP autopsy is going to look like child's play compared to what the 2017 autopsy looks like." He was referring to a Republican Party review after the 2012 election that concluded the GOP needed to dramatically change its image among minority and female voters.

Groups like Numbers USA and the Federation of American Immigration Reform, which opposed the 2013 Senate immigration bill, have also gotten in on the action.

So far, FAIR has been communicating with its members and suggesting questions they should ask candidates at town hall meetings and rallies.

Numbers USA has also run TV ads during every Republican and Democratic primary debate that argue for reducing the flow of immigrants into the country. Its most recent ad featured Barbara Jordan, a onetime civil rights leader and congresswoman, who led the last bipartisan immigration commission, and her recommendations for reform.

Chris Chmielenski, of Numbers USA, said the group has also been in close touch with aides to presidential campaigns as well as donors, critiquing the candidates' immigration plans. The group distributes cards that "grade" the candidates on 10 different immigration criteria.

Chmielenski said Numbers USA also has plans for digital and social media advertising in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina as the primary contests become closer.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/1...lection-216327

When you use massive amounts of H-1b Indian IT workers at half the salary INSTEAD of American citizens workers, you can afford millions for ads. A real caring soul for fellow Americans NOT. And wants 4x the visas, a request to rubio his personal senator. Wonder if he has pulled the negative over-immigration comments on facebook as merkel requested on the hot mick - "i'm working on it"

Only the DC based immigration control groups are mentioned in this article and none of them can tackle elections.

We are the only PAC fighting on their side of the issue and we have released our most ambitious plan ever to knock down more Eric Cantor style Republicans and amnesty backing Democrats in 2016 than ever before!


William Gheen
AMERICANS FOR LEGAL IMMIGRATION PAC
www.alipac.us
Post Office Box 30966, Raleigh, NC 27622-0966
Tel: (919) 787-6009 Toll Free: (866) 703-0864
FEC ID: C00405878