Representing 1.5 million registered email activists and 2 million unique Facebook followers, NumbersUSA spent more than a million dollars in the three weeks running through Election Day putting this ad in front of citizens primarily in Senate battleground states through local broadcast TV and social media.
"We wanted to connect Americans' feelings of economic insecurity to the hard fact that Congress continues to add millions of foreign workers to an already huge surplus of labor that drives down wages and drives up the number of working-age Americans totally out of the labor force," said Roy Beck, NumbersUSA President.
"We wanted to use the ad campaign to make sure that every voter was reminded that immigration policy is about how many foreign citizens are allowed to compete with American workers for jobs and wages. And we wanted to ensure that everybody knows that the current policy of adding one million additional life-time work-permit immigrants every single year is something that Congress set in motion and something that Congress can change."
Read the script of the ad here.
~~Stories about the ad campaign ran in more than 400 news media around the country. Many stories expressed surprise that the ads did not mention illegal immigration but instead focused on policies that set the numbers for legal immigration.
The ad points out that nearly all U.S. job growth since the year 2000 has gone to new immigrants while millions of Americans who want a full-time job still can't find one.
The ad questions whether Congress should continue to add 1 million more immigrants every year to compete for jobs or if the priority should be for the jobs to go to the Americans and legal immigrants already here who are still looking for work. Around 18 million Americans fit that official U-6 broad unemployment category. And the ad asks citizens to find out what their Senators think about who should get the next jobs created in the United States.
To find out what each Senator thinks about who should get the next jobs -- and to compare the immigration positions of candidates seeking to become a Senator -- click here.
Here is the press release that went out at the beginning of the campaign:
NUMBERSUSA IMMIGRATION AD CAMPAIGN ASKS SENATORS: SHOULD AMERICANS GET THE NEXT U.S. JOBS?
Congress Continues to Add One Million New Immigrants a Year to Compete for Jobs While Millions of American Workers Remain Unemployed and Underemployed
WASHINGTON, DC – October 15, 2014 – "Who should get the next jobs?" is the pointed theme of a seven-figure ad campaign launched today by NumbersUSA in markets across the country. The ad asks if Congress should continue adding one million new immigrants every year to compete for new jobs, or should the jobs go to the millions of American workers and legal immigrants already here who still can't find work?
The ads are scheduled to run for several weeks in Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire and North Carolina. The campaign is funded by NumbersUSA, which has a non-partisan grassroots network of more than 2 million citizens who seek a reduction in annual immigration numbers.
"We're urging every citizen to ask a very simple question of their Senators -- and of anybody who wants to be a Senator," said NumbersUSA President Roy Beck. "Who should get the next jobs? Do they think their constituents who are looking for work should have priority for jobs? Or are they committed to catering to special-interest groups and helping corporate lobbyists continue to flood the labor market with new foreign workers who, through no fault of their own, depress the wages and job prospects for workers already here?
"Polling shows that most Americans believe annual legal immigration should be reduced to improve the jobs and wages for American workers," Beck said. "But many in Congress don't agree."
The ad notes that federal data show that nearly all job growth since the year 2000 has gone to foreign-born workers. During that time, the number of Americans who have fallen completely out of the labor market has risen to historically high levels. The wages for most working-class Americans, when adjusted for inflation, are lower now than in 1979.
"Despite the dismal wage and employment reports on American workers, most Members of Congress continue to favor high immigration of workers at all skill levels," Beck said. "But polling shows the folks back home are far more interested in an immigration policy that protects America's wage-earners and their families."
Recent opinion research by The Polling Company/Woman Trend indicates Americans believe immigrants take jobs from Americans rather than create jobs and nearly 9 out of 10 believe U.S.-born workers and legal immigrants already here should get first preference for jobs.
Since 2007, special-interest groups have spent more than $1.5 billion on more than 3,000 lobbyists who have pushed passage of an immigration bill that would dramatically increase immigration. In mid-2013, the groups nearly succeeded when the US Senate passed S.744, a bill that would have doubled legal immigration over the next ten years. Many Senators who voted for S.744 have been distancing themselves from the bill recently. The bill has not been brought to the floor of the House of Representatives.
NumbersUSA.com tracks and grades every Member of Congress on actions that affect the numerical level of immigration. The website also compares the immigration positions of every candidate running for Congress.
To view the NumbersUSA TV ad on YouTube, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8DS5wtTt3M
Script of Ad
ANNCR: Finally.
The economy is starting to crank out new jobs.
But who should get those jobs?
Government data show nearly ALL job growth since 2000 has gone to new immigrant workers.
So, should Congress continue ADDING one million immigrants a year to compete for jobs?
Or should the jobs go to the millions of Americans and legal immigrants already here, still looking for work?
What do your Senators think?
Find out at numbersusa.com.
Paid for by NumbersUSA
Ad Sourcing
Jobs added but wages lag
http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-job-growth-rebounds-in-september-1412339557
Job growth since 2000 to immigrant workers
http://cis.org/immigrant-gains-native-losses-in-the-job-market-2000-to-2013
Government admits 1 million immigrants every year
http://www.dhs.gov/publication/yearbook-2012
Millions of Americans still unemployed
http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/print.pl/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
