Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader in the Senate, criticized the White House over comprehensive immigration reform, as a follow up to the announcement by the Department of Homeland Security of its raids at pallet-maker IFCO’s plants around the US. According to a press statement from Reid today:

"For five years, the Bush Administration has failed to secure America's borders and enforce our laws. A photo-op crackdown by its Homeland Security Agency to prove a political point won't erase its failed record. Americans know our country needs a real change. President Bush must stand up to the radical right wing of his party and stop Republicans from filibustering tough, comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform."

The massive street pro-immigrant street protests that caught so many in the country by surprise were quickly organized and left many feeling empowered. But many are questioning what should be the next steps in promoting the pro-immigration cause. Some are calling for a national boycott day on May 1^st where immigrants will not go to work, not buy any goods and stay home from school. Others are saying that this will not create public sympathy and are urging immigrants to ignore calls for a boycott. Instead, they are urging pro-immigration people, particularly naturalized citizens, to register to vote.

I’m certainly in the latter camp. One of the beautiful aspects of the recent protests is how many Americans have come to admire the immigrants for their courage in coming out of the shadows to make their voices heard. So much of whether this new movement will be successful will depend on whether the average American citizen will come to see immigrants as an asset to the country or a threat. I think that many of my fellow citizens are starting to believe the former rather than the latter. But attempts by immigrants to inflict economic pain on the American public could backfire and cause resentment just at a critical juncture in the legislative process.

Voter registration, on the other hand, could be just the ticket to achieving success. Many in elected office in this land count on low voter turnouts in immigrant communities and will only start to show respect for the concerns of these communities when they see consequences on election day. And the rest of America will respect immigrant communities even more when they see big turnouts at the polls.

I’m blogging right now from mid-air on my way to the American Bar Association’s annual Techshow in Chicago where I am speaking on a panel entitled “60 Marketing Tips in 60 Minutes.” The program will be a fast-paced run through of ideas on how lawyers can improve their efforts to develop business. I’m also attending the spring meeting of the ABA’s Law Practice Management Section. I serve on the book publishing board for this ABA section (I served as chair of that program for a couple of years). If you’re looking for the best books on law practice management, finances, marketing and technology, you should definitely visit the section web site at www.lawpractice.org. A nice coincidence is that the current book program chair Reid Trautz will be leaving his position as the practice management advisor for the DC Bar and joining the American Immigration Lawyers Association as AILA’s practice management advisor. Reid will be a great addition to AILA and I’m looking forward to working with at AILA as well as the ABA. For those AILA members who read this blog, definitely take advantage of Reid’s expertise when he starts work at our association in the near future.