American Immigration Council and New American Economy Announce Merger

WASHINGTON—Today, the American Immigration Council (Council)—a preeminent hub of litigation, policy, and advocacy founded by the American Immigration Lawyers Association to strengthen America by working toward a more fair and just immigration system—and New American Economy (NAE)—the leading bipartisan think tank and advocacy organization founded by Michael Bloomberg to make the economic case for smarter immigration policies—announced plans to merge their organizations into a unified American Immigration Council. Jeremy Robbins, the former Executive Director of New American Economy, will lead the American Immigration Council as its Executive Director.

By joining the legal and litigation work, federal policy expertise, and innovative work on belonging from the Council with the research, state and local policy work, and arts and culture programming from NAE, the newly combined organization will have a broad suite of advocacy tools to better expand and protect the rights of immigrants, more fully ensure immigrants’ ability to succeed economically, and help make the communities they settle in more welcoming.

There are many challenges facing immigrants in America, and Congress continues to be frustrated in its attempts to modernize our outdated immigration system. The advocacy tools and networks the two organizations are bringing are complementary, and the merger will help each of the respective bodies of work have more impact. The Council’s litigation will be strengthened by NAE’s research and state and local networks; NAE’s work changing policy to support immigrants at the local level will be supported by the more than 12,000 pro bono advocates who have volunteered for the Council’s Immigration Justice Campaign, among many other synergies.

Together, the two organizations will focus on:

• Protecting a robust set of rights to help immigrants secure their place in American society.
• Providing real and meaningful access to counsel to exercise those rights.
• Ensuring immigrants and the communities that welcome them succeed economically, socially, and culturally.
• Showing how immigration benefits all Americans, through original research, policy analysis, and storytelling.

“It’s rare that nonprofits merge, but it shouldn't be. Together these two organizations can reach more audiences with more powerful tools than either could ever do apart, at a scale that is unparalleled. We’ll better ensure that immigrants can succeed and thrive, more fully support the communities that welcome them, and more powerfully fight for reform at the local, state, and federal level,” said Jeremy Robbins, the new executive director of the American Immigration Council. “I believe our field needs to evolve and that it’s time to reimagine our work in a way that helps us best serve newcomers while rebuilding a bipartisan and constructive case for what immigration means for America.”

 “We started New American Economy a decade ago to change the narrative around immigration and show that it is possible to mobilize a broad array of civic and business leaders behind the idea that immigration is one of America’s greatest competitive advantages,” said John Feinblatt, chairman of the board of New American Economy. “This merger represents the next step in scaling that idea and creating an organization that can effectively fight against anti-immigrant sentiment, modernize our broken immigration system, and show that immigration is crucial to America’s success.”

“Today’s announcement of a merger between New American Economy and the American Immigration Council marks the start of an important new chapter in the fight to reform America’s outdated immigration system,” said Dan Siciliano, president of the board of directors at the American Immigration Council. “For too long, politicians in Washington have ignored the reality on the ground across the country: that immigrants strengthen our communities and make tremendous contributions when they have the opportunity to reach their full potential. The new American Immigration Council will have the expertise, reach, and scale to take that message to every corner of the country and build a smarter, more welcoming immigration system from the ground up.”

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For more information, contact:

Maria Frausto, American Immigration Council, [email protected], 202-550-4001.