Conservative Hispanic Group to Launch Pro- Immigration Reform Campaign

By Griselda Nevarez, Voxxi

As Republicans continue discussing how they must change their view on immigration in order to make inroads with Latino voters, one of the country’s most conservative Hispanic groups is ready to take action.

The Hispanic Leadership Network (HLN) is gearing up to launch a campaign aimed at growing support for immigration reform among Republicans.

The advocacy campaign will kick off this weekend with a television commercial dubbed “Be Part of the Solution.” It will feature former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, who is co-chair of HLN and served as adviser to former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Latino outreach.

The commercial will run nationally in English on ABC’s This Week and Fox News Sunday as well as in Spanish on the Univision Network. It will also be accompanied by a targeted digital ad campaign.

Carlos Gutierrez: ‘We’re losing that American dream’

Cuba-born Gutierrez, who is the former CEO of the Kellogg Company, begins the commercial speaking about how he didn’t speak any English when he and his family left Cuba to come to the United States in 1960.

“America is the only place where a little boy who couldn’t speak English can grow up to be a CEO and U.S. Secretary of Commerce,” Gutierrez says in the ad. “Sadly, we’re losing that American dream to a broken system.”

“Washington must pass immigration reform that grows the economy and respects the rule of law, so others like me can help renew the American dream,” he adds.

HLN Executive Director Jennifer S. Korn said in a statement Thursday that Gutierrez is “a prime example of what can happen when the immigration system works.”

HLN campaign backs pro-immigration reform Republicans

Korn said the advocacy campaign aims to “encourage genuine bipartisan immigration reform.” But one of the biggest challenges ahead for the GOP is convincing enough of its members, especially those in the U.S. House of Representatives, to come out in support of immigration reform.

Latino Republican leaders, including Gutierrez, contend that there are Republican politicians who have held back from embracing their support for immigration reform because they fear they’ll face primary challenges from those in their party who lean far to the right on immigration.

Through its campaign, HLN intends to change that by supporting Republicans who advocate for immigration reform. Gutierrez plans to do the same through his own efforts.

He announced last Friday that he will be resigning from his post as vice chairman at Citigroup to head the newly formed Republicans for Immigration Reform, a political action committee focused on supporting Republicans who advocate for immigration reform.

Gutierrez will serve as the political action committee’s chairman. In a statement, he spoke about why he decided to dedicate his time and energy to this effort.

“The upcoming immigration reform debate will be one of the most important public policy discussions America engages in this century,” he stated. “Our country must get it right.”

“Secretary Gutierrez came to America looking for freedom, liberty and opportunity,” she said. “He found it. We need bipartisan support to ensure we fix our broken relic of an immigration system so that others can find economic success here as well.”

HLN launched in 2011 and is part of the center-right American Action Network. The main objective of the HLN is “to engage the Hispanic community on center-right issues that will restore opportunity and prosperity in America,” according to the group’s website.

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Griselda Nevárez is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service in Washington D.C.