National Day of Action

AILA National Day of Action 2023

In 2023, AILA will stage the National Day of Action as an in-person lobby day event in Washington, currently scheduled for April 27. AILA’s long-standing vision is to increase the association and its membership’s political influence with Congress so that we can effectively advance our mission of promoting fair and reasonable immigration law.

To better achieve that goal, in 2023, AILA will modify its approach to become a highly targeted event that attracts AILA members who are better trained and positioned to influence the identified congressional offices.

• Targeted Congressional Advocacy AILA and its chapters will select AILA members who participate in NDA primarily based on targeted Congressional offices where the development of close relationships will best advance AILA’s advocacy priorities. Participation will also factor in the number of participants from each chapter in past years.
  
  Criteria used to identify priority Congressional targets:
  
  1. Key Congressional Committees:
     
     1. House Judiciary
     2. House Homeland Security
     3. House Appropriations Subcommittees: Homeland Security, Commerce, Justice, Science, and State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs.
     4. House Oversight & Government Accountability.
  2. Have demonstrated commitment or involvement on immigration.
  3. Are in competitive Congressional districts to align with AILA’s political engagement efforts.
  4. Exclude offices that have extreme anti-immigrant views.
• Mandatory Training AILA will launch a new training program to accompany NDA: AILA’s Congressional Advocacy Training Program. Through this initiative, AILA and chapters will develop advocacy “ambassadors” who will commit to receiving training on Congressional advocacy before coming to NDA and are committed to building close working relationships with Congress over time. The training will be an interactive series, including videos, virtual handbook with tips, techniques, and legislative resources, and a workbook for participants to complete for enhanced comprehension and preparation. The training program will include separate components all related to effective advocacy, including making an “ask”, understanding the audience, developing a story, and building relationships.
• Selective Participation at NDA To increase AILA’s political influence, AILA will reduce the overall member participation at NDA by about half (50 percent) in 2023. For several years, the NDA has grown from an event of about 250 registrants to 500 in-person (and 700 during the pandemic years). Experts in political engagement, including those that run highly influential lobbying operations, however, recommend that AILA will increase its influence by reducing the size of NDA. Bringing large numbers of participants to a single day event in Washington does not translate to greater influence and is not a good investment of resources. Instead, AILA will emphasize helping chapters and their members cultivate deep, personal and sustained relationships with elected officials. With fewer participants, Chapter NDA liaisons will be able to better train their delegations, as well as receive more support from the national office.

2023 Implementation

In January 2023, AILA’s Grassroots Advocacy Associate, Sofia Rosales-Zeledon will provide NDA Liaisons and chapter leaders with participation numbers for their chapters and a list of their key congressional targets. Chapters will recruit members to participate in the mandatory training program and NDA. AILA’s advocacy associate will support chapters in recruitment efforts. To keep the event selective, there will not be flexibility to allow for additional participants from each chapter.

Cite as AILA Doc. No. 17101761.