These past two weeks, ACIP’s Lynn Shotwell and Rebecca Peters have had the opportunity to attend both the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL and Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC thanks to our new affiliation with SHRM. This opportunity has not only been an amazing political experience, but it has been beneficial to ACIP and its members – giving us access to the inside scoop as the parties head into election season, as well as providing us yet another venue to talk to Members of Congress, administrative officials, media contacts and both ACIP and SHRM members in attendance. ACIP’s message on the need to reform our high-skilled immigration system to grow jobs and create a healthy economy was the topic of many one-on-one discussions. We also had the chance to share our opinions on each party’s position on immigration through on-the-ground interviews. Check those videos out here and here.

These past two weeks in Tampa and Charlotte have been a blur! But we at ACIP have enjoyed our time educating at both conventions and spreading the word on the need to reform our high-skilled immigration system and why it is important to growing jobs and the U.S. economy. We’ve been to events all over Charlotte this week – we even ran into Anderson Cooper! See the pictures of meeting him and more here. Continue reading for the full scoop on what has been happening at the DNC so far this week or catch up on last week’s RNC immigration buzz here.

ACIP's Lynn Shotwell and Rebecca Peters attended this week's Republican National Convention, spreading the word about the importance of high-skilled, employment-based immigration reform at events with IMPACT and National Journal.  To see all the action, click here.

ACIP’s first national convention experience is officially underway!

 

As part of our new strategic affiliation with SHRM, we are able to take our advocacy messages on the road to the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention – raising the profile of the need for high-skilled, employment-based immigration reform and showing America’s policymakers the key role ACIP’s and SHRM’s members can play in driving economic growth and job creation.

After all the preparation and nerves that come before each Symposium, they go by so quickly. Another Symposium has come and gone – and this has been the best one yet!

After dancing the night away on the 40th Anniversary Gala Cruise last night, it was an early morning for us today at Symposium – but we jumped right into the action with a great panel on the new technologies appearing at U.S. borders. One of the features of this year’s Symposium was the chance to register for the Global Entry program – one of these new technologies – to save time at the airport and skip long customs lines.

Welcome back to Symposium Snapshots – our blog series for those ACIP members who can’t be with us at the 2012 Symposium. This year is extra special though because ACIP is celebrating its 40th anniversary, so we made Symposium even bigger and better, and we hope this blog will convey that excitement.