Immigration Policy Reform Should Now Begin in Cities and Counties
AS/COA - December 3, 2013
In the absence of forward movement on comprehensive immigration reform in the U.S. House of Representatives, the job of improving the legal, business, and human rights environment for immigrants falls increasingly to U.S. cities and counties. This was the conclusion of the Summit of Gateway Cities, which took place at Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) in New York on December 3, 2013. The meeting brought together high-ranking public officials as well as business and community leaders from Atlanta, Charlotte, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, and St. Louis to discuss and share policies and best practices for facilitating the integration of immigrants into local communities, encouraging economic development and financial inclusion, improving access to basic services, smoothing police-community relations, and changing the public discourse and debate around immigration to the U.S. economy—locally and nationally.