The immigration issue arouses passionate arguments on both sides. But in addition to being a battle for hearts and minds, it’s a battle for dollars and cents.
Businesses, trade groups and special interests have dumped millions into the immigration reform effort, according to figures from the Center for Responsive Politics, a D.C. watchdog.
The center recently began tracking lobbying on such questions as immigration and found that the issue has made for some odd bedfellows, center spokesman Massie Ritsch said Tuesday.
“You didn’t see symphony musicians, hockey players or CEOs of high-tech companies leading the marches around the country this week, but they care about immigration, too, and their lobbying and campaign contributions reflect that,” Ritsch said.
Agribusiness groups, for instance, depend heavily on migrant laborers, so they have lobbied and contributed heavily to political campaigns, Ritsch said. But the list of immigration lobbyists also includes the American Ballet Theater. That group gave $40,000 in campaign contributions in 2005, though not all of that money was directed to immigration reform.
Then there’s Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer. Last year, the company paid $11 million to settle a Department of Justice suit alleging that it was using illegal immigrants to clean its floors. It recently began lobbying on immigration as well, Ritsch said.
Last year, Colorado-based First Data Corp., parent company of Western Union, formed a $10 million “empowerment fund” to make it easier for immigrants to come to the United States.
Company officials said they were acting in the interest of “the respect and dignity of immigrants and their families,” but First Data also profits from its philanthropy. Immigrant laborers sent more than $13 billion in remittances back to Mexico in 2003 — most of them through Western Union.
Lobbying immigration
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, dozens of groups have lobbied on immigration. The list includes:
» The American Federation of Musicians
» The American Museum of Natural History
» Golf Course Superintendents Association
» Johns Hopkins University
» Major League Baseball Commissioner’s Office
» Seamus Literary & Editorial Services
» United Seniors Association
