A group backed by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is launching a new round of ads to encourage Congress to overhaul the nation’s immigration system this year.
And in an effort to target Washington insiders, the ads from the Partnership for a New American Economy will start appearing next week in D.C. taxi cabs. The commercials also will run online and on TV.
The ads take a light-hearted approach. A cartoon figure is stripped of his blue jeans and the ability to search on Google to illustrate immigrants’ inventions that pervade American life. (Levi Strauss of blue jeans fame emigrated from Germany; Google co-founder Sergey Brin was born in Russia.)
“Immigrants invented many of the things we use every day,” a female narrator says. “Without them, America wouldn’t be America.”
Viewers are urged to tell Congress that “it’s time to pass immigration reform now.”
John Feinblatt, the group’s chairman, said “lack of action on immigration reform is causing American industries to lose their competitive edge.”
