Dear John,
Happy New Year! After a brief hiatus, we are excited to resume the Council's State & Local Quarterly Newsletter this year. As we enter a crucial presidential election year where immigration policy will be front and center, this newsletter will help keep you informed of trends we are seeing at the state and local level and how our team is supporting immigrant inclusion work happening across the country (including in some places that might surprise you!).
Before we look ahead to 2024, we want to recap some of our wins from last year. 2023 brought a lot of change to our team: I had the privilege of becoming the Director of State and Local Initiatives in April after previously serving as Deputy Director and, most recently, Senior Policy Advisor. We brought on Victoria Francis, formerly Senior Advocacy Officer at the International Rescue Committee, to become our new Deputy Director, and hired a new State Policy Manager and Policy Associate to round out our team.
Over the course of 2023, we were active in over 100 local communities and nearly 40 states, supporting partners from the government, business, and nonprofit sectors with data on immigrants’ contributions (like our Map the Impact tool), as well as best practices and strategic advice to further immigrant inclusion and economic development work in their communities. Below are some highlights from the past year. Check out the Council’s End of Year Report to learn more about our organization-wide impact in 2023.
We appreciate your ongoing support and engagement and look forward to continuing to partner on our state and local work during this crucial year!
– Rich André, Director of State & Local Initiatives
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State legislatures are increasingly engaging on immigration policy – with some bills seeking to increase opportunity for immigrants while others aim to criminalize this population. In 2023, our State and Local Initiatives team tracked over 1,000 immigration-related bills across all 50 states. We formally supported 27 pro-immigrant bills this year – 12 of which became law – through testimony, data, and letters of support. These bills ranged from creating Offices of New Americans and expanding access to in-state tuition for Dreamers, to advancing licensure opportunities for foreign-trained physicians and increasing workforce opportunities for immigrants.
We also worked to challenge harmful bills in Texas and Florida, leveraging resources and expertise across Council teams. Following the passage of Florida’s SB1718, a bill that includes a host of provisions designed to marginalize immigrants and purportedly enforce federal immigration law, the Council joined The Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, and Americans for Immigrant Justice in suing Governor DeSantis. And before SB4 passed in Texas, we helped prepare talking points for legislators to ensure that important information was on the record in anticipation of future litigation and released this joint statement opposing the bill in partnership with the TRUST Coalition.
With most state legislatures now in session, we are gearing up for what we expect to be our busiest legislative season to date, bringing all the Council’s resources and expertise to bear to support inclusive immigration bills and fight back against restrictive ones. |
States Invest in Immigrant Inclusion |
The Office of New Americans (ONA) State Network, co-convened by the Council and World Education Services (WES) Global Talent Bridge, grew to 19 Democrat- and Republican-led states this year, each with a dedicated office or senior policy staff focused on immigrant inclusion and economic development. Our newest states include North Dakota, established via bipartisan legislation, and Maine, where Governor Mills signed an executive order directing the Office of Policy, Innovation and the Future to create a plan for establishing an ONA by the end of this month. Our team also formally supported a bill to permanently fund Minnesota’s Office of New Americans, which passed last May.
In October 2023, the Council and WES brought together 35 ONA State Network representatives in Washington D.C., for our annual network convening. The three-day event allowed the ONAs to meet with federal partners at the White House and to discuss timely issues impacting their states, like federal policy developments and the increasing number of asylum seekers moving from the U.S-Mexico border to interior communities.
This year, the ONA State Network will play a critical role in helping states plan for the outcome of November’s presidential election, welcome increasing numbers of new arrivals, and respond to policy change at the federal level. |
2023 Office of New Americans State Network Convening in Washington, D.C. |
Business Leadership on Immigration |
In October, the Council partnered with the Greater Houston Partnership for the seventh-annual Global Talent Chamber Network (GTCN) Convening in Houston, Texas. The event brought together chambers of commerce from states across the U.S., including Texas, Michigan, Kentucky, and Ohio. Chambers discussed how the business community can leverage international talent to fill workforce gaps and participate in joint advocacy for common sense immigration reform.
As a follow-up to the convening, the Council led over 100 business organizations, including chambers of commerce and trade associations throughout the country, to call on Congress to remove the current barrier to getting asylum seekers work permits quickly. In partnership with the Refugee Advocacy Lab, American Immigration Lawyers Association, Refugees International, and Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, the letter calls for the waiting period to be reduced from the current 180 mandatory days to 30 days and additional funding for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for faster work permit processing. As companies across the country struggle with labor shortages, the business community is well positioned to advocate for immigration reforms that help states and localities meet their workforce needs this year. We plan to leverage our chamber of commerce network, as well as our three business coalitions in Colorado, Ohio, and Texas, to elevate the business voice on immigration in 2024.
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2023 Global Talent Chamber Network Convening in Houston, TX |
Creating More Welcoming Communities |
In 2023, the Council worked with 10 new communities ranging from Santa Fe, NM to Pittsburgh, PA, as part of our Gateways for Growth (G4G) Challenge, bringing the number of participating communities to 76 across 37 states. Through a combination of tailored research reports, technical assistance, and matching grant funding, the Council, in partnership with Welcoming America, supported these local communities in creating an environment where all residents – including immigrants and refugees – can thrive.
In 2024, we expect several of these communities to launch their strategic welcoming plans (see this example from South Bend, IN launched in December 2023), detailing how to improve access and opportunity for all. We also plan to support these communities with their newly launched plans as they transition to implementing plan recommendations.
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2023 Gateways for Growth Research Reports |
Federal Advocacy Opportunity |
As Members of Congress negotiate military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan and additional border funding, some elected leaders are continuing to signal their willingness to compromise on critical provisions that would make disastrous, permanent changes to the U.S. asylum system and expand internal enforcement. In response, the Council has launched an urgent take-action campaign urging Members of Congress to reject anti-immigrant proposals in the supplemental funding negotiations.
To learn more about the provisions being considered by Congress, read our recent blog. |
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Map the Impact now includes new 2021 data at the national and state levels.
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Beyond A Border Solution puts forth recommendations on how to build a humanitarian protection system that won’t break.
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Starting Anew looks at the vibrant economic impact of refugees across the United States.
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State and Local Initiatives in the News |
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The State & Local Initiatives team supports policymakers, business leaders, and civic organizations across more than 100 local communities and nearly 40 states by equipping them with economic research, technical assistance, peer-to-peer learning, and advocacy opportunities. Our partners use Council resources to champion evidenced-based policies and programs that welcome immigrants and drive economic growth for all residents. Make a donation today.
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