Where We're Going: A Quick Overview

Ever since the immigration reform bill died in Congress a little more than a year ago, we've seen a proliferation of bills introduced at the local level--by county legislators and city and state officials--throughout the country. The vast majority have been restrictive measures, spurred by a general sense of frustration at our broken immigration system, but there have been some occasions where local governments have taken steps to facilitate the integration of immigrants into their communities and recognize their contributions. Today, the first day of our road trip to the conventions, we had the opportunity to visit Long Island, where the two ends of the continuum play out--continued efforts by certain officials in Suffolk County to enact restrictive measures as local communities confront the challenges of changing demographics; and a more embracing approach by Nassau County. We also had the opportunity to visit New Haven, CT, where the City issued a multi-functional municipal i.d. card just over a year ago that is available to city residents regardless of status. The card serves simultaneously as a library card, a form of i.d. accepted by banks for the purposes of opening an account, and a debit card that a supermarket chain and a number of city stores and restaurants, as well as the city's parking meters, take as form of payment.

As we continue on the journey tomorrow, we'll hit Trenton, NJ, where we'll talk to folks about the attorney general's directive concerning local police involvement in immigration enforcement, and we'll visit Riverside, NJ, which passed an anti-immigrant ordinance, then rescinded it when they saw their local economy dry up--when they realized that the immigrants they had first cast as problems turned out, instead, to be crucial to the town's economic vitality.

And en route to the conventions, we'll also hit Hazelton, PA, which led the way in passing anti-immigrant legislation at the local level (a policy that was ultimately overturned by the courts), and then Shenandoah, PA, where a hate crime recently occurred. We'll continue through the heartland, making varied stops, including in Postville, IA, site of the recent raid at a meat-processing plant, and end up at the Democratic and Republican conventions.

We'll be posting blogs detailing the stories we hear, the lessons we learn, and the messages that people have asked us to bring to the presidential candidates and their delegates and the media covering the conventions. We'll post videos of the interviews we conduct. We want to hear your comments and thoughts. Please stay posted!