ImmigrationWorks president Tamar Jacoby kicked off the proceedings, emphasizing that business needs to get more involved in the federal immigration debate.

Sessions focused on policy, politics and grassroots tactics. The common thread: what employers need in a bill and what we need to do to make sure we get it.

Keynoter Jim Kolbe, former Republican congressman from Arizona, emphasized that reform must have three legs: more effective enforcement, an answer for unauthorized immigrants already in the country and – most important –   a way for the workers we’ll need for future economic growth to enter the US legally. 

Noted political analyst Grover Norquist, president of the conservative Americans for Tax Reform, and Simon Rosenberg, president of the progressive NDN, traded ideas about the political prospects for reform.

Attendees came from as close as Washington DC and as far away as Washington state.

Employers from all sectors of the economy that rely on immigrant workers were represented – in this photo, agriculture and nurseries. (Shown here, right: Craig Regelbrugge of the American Nursery & Landscape Association.

Angelo I. Amador U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Marshall Fitz Center for American Progress, John Gay AILA consultant, Daniel Griswold CATO Institute, Deborah Harrison Marriott International, Ben Johnson American Immigration Law Foundation, Jenny Levy American Immigration Lawyers Association, Lynden Melmed former special counsel to Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), Ali Noorani National Immigration Forum, Craig Regelbrugge American Nursery & Landscape Association, Sara Taylor BlueFront Strategies

ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS FROM THE STATES

Mike Gilsdorf Arapahoe Acres Nursery, Jason LeVecke LeVecke & Company, Joe Sigg Arizona Farm Bureau, Stacia Smith Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.

For more about the summit – and more about what you can do to get involved – click on the links below.