Think Immigration: No Matter Where You Are, You Can Make a Difference During National Day of Action!

I’ve lived and worked in the D.C. area for years. I look around and can see that spring is in the air in D.C. How can you tell? Cherry blossoms are blooming! And, my personal spring barometer: hundreds of AILA members are heading to the Hill to make their voices heard.

Over the years, thousands of AILA members have trekked to Washington, D.C. and gathered for the National Day of Action (NDA) and Spring Conference. This year, it is more important than ever that advocates for immigration reform bring a solutions-based message to legislative offices. It is true that our immigration system is broken, but it is equally true that it can be fixed. For those of us who are serious about reforming our system, we must remind Congress that there are ways to make the immigration system fairer and more just, while simultaneously ensuring that America is stronger than ever.

Those conversations have to happen outside of D.C. as well. In fact, there are more ideas and more support for immigration reform outside of D.C. In-district visits are a powerful tool for bringing the real-life examples of your clients to the attention of the people often best-positioned to do something to help our immigration laws enter this century: congressional staffers and policymakers.

For those of you in D.C. for NDA, your path is clear – on Thursday morning, head to the prep room where AILA’s Government Relations team will make sure you are ready for your meetings. You’ll also hear from our Communications Team about ways to engage on social media throughout NDA and beyond. Then head up to the Hill and share your expertise and insights. I hope to hear all about your successes (and tell you about the meetings I went to) at our Spring Conference on Friday!

And for those of you who aren’t joining in-person this year, you aren’t off the hook. You can participate too in several ways. Engage on social media using the toolkit and personalize the posts to engage with your legislators’ offices. Work with your chapter’s advocacy liaison and set up an in-district meeting. Reach out to our Communications Team if you see an article in your local newspaper that you’d like to respond to with a Letter to the Editor – we can help you add a call to action for your congressional delegation in the letter and send it to the newspaper. There are so many ways to engage no matter where you are. And hopefully you’ll be able to tune in to the Spring Conference webcast and hear directly from agency officials about key questions and concerns our members are facing.

I know you all are already busy with your practices and your “real lives.” But advocacy is a muscle we need our members to exercise, whether you’re in D.C. walking the halls of Congress, or in-district. Your experiences, and the experiences of your clients, can be what brings a complicated issue or idea home to a member of Congress.