Immigration panel hosted by FWD.us

Immigration panel hosted by FWD.usImmigration reform may not be dead, but a huge demonstration of support will be necessary to persuade Congress to pass such legislation in 2014.  Jobs and lives are hanging in the balance, according to business, technology and government advocates who participated in a panel discussion at Miami Dade College earlier this week.

Attendees at the forum, which was hosted by FWD.us, included Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; Congressman Maria Diaz-Balart; Helen Aguirre Ferre, the PBS and Univision Radio anchor; Daniel Garzia, the executive director of LIBRE Initiative; National Council of La Raza chairman Jorge Plasencia; and the founder and president of FWD.us, Joe Green.

FWD.us was started by Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame, among others, and is an advocacy organization that was created to help to organize the technology community in the struggle to achieve comprehensive immigration reform and other other policy issues.   A chapter was established in Miami earlier this year.  “We have constructed an organization that takes a pragmatic approach to immigration reform,” Green says.  “We exist to provide support for members of Congress on both sides of the aisle who stick their necks out for immigration reform.”

The expansion of the high-skilled US visa program would result in the creation of around 18,000 new jobs in the state of Florida within six years, the American Immigration Council has stated.  By 2045, around $9 billion could be added to gross state product as a result of such an expansion.

Jobs and lives are hanging in the balance, according to business, technology and government advocates who participated in a panel discussion at Miami Dade College earlier this week.

Attendees at the forum, which was hosted by FWD.us, included Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; Congressman Maria Diaz-Balart; Helen Aguirre Ferre, the PBS and Univision Radio anchor; Daniel Garzia, the executive director of LIBRE Initiative; National Council of La Raza chairman Jorge Plasencia; and the founder and president of FWD.us, Joe Green.

FWD.us was started by Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame, among others, and is an advocacy organization that was created to help to organize the technology community in the struggle to achieve comprehensive immigration reform and other other policy issues.   A chapter was established in Miami earlier this year.  “We have constructed an organization that takes a pragmatic approach to immigration reform,” Green says.  “We exist to provide support for members of Congress on both sides of the aisle who stick their necks out for immigration reform.”

The expansion of the high-skilled US visa program would result in the creation of around 18,000 new jobs in the state of Florida within six years, the American Immigration Council has stated.  By 2045, around $9 billion could be added to gross state product as a result of such an expansion.