An immigrant rights coalition launched a state-wide billboard campaign today to ask that Tennesseans approach the immigration debate with sensitivity.
The billboards read, “Welcome the immigrant you once were,” on a background of ethnically diverse faces.
Organizers of the Welcoming Tennessee campaign say those words are meant to remind viewers of America’s history as an immigrant haven. Maria Clara Mejia says the messages are specifically targeted at cooling what she calls “hurtful rhetoric” in political campaigns.
Mejia came to Nashville five years ago from Mexico. She’s now a U.S. citizen and says she understands the complex nature of the immigration debate. But she adds that most people benefit from the immigrant community’s influence on industry, particularly Hispanic influence on agriculture and home building.
“We should go and find immigrants and say, hey thanks you so much. Thank you for being young and being energetic, for wanting to work…and perhaps reward them with means for them to be able to work with a work permit, to be able to drive with a driver’s license, with all the documents that people need to really interact with the society and become a constructive force.”
Welcoming Tennessee is spending just $5,000 on the 50 billboards statewide by using donated space from Lamar Advertising.
In the Southwest, the Minuteman Project has purchased anti-immigration billboards over the past three months that simply state “no amnesty.” A Welcoming Tennessee spokesman says the local project is not a direct rebuttal.
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