America’s Voice

America’s Voice has called for the abolition of Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) ³ and praised the Biden administration for extending Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) access to the so-called DREAMERs, illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. ⁴

America’s Voice has called second Trump administration prospective Deputy Chief of Staff for policy Stephen Miller a “white nationalist” and “hatemonger,” ⁵ attacked prospective “Border Czar” Tom Homan, ⁶ and claimed that the 2024 presidential campaign of former President Donald Trump was a “fascist campaign.” ⁷

History and Background

America’s Voice can trace its formation to a group known as the New American Opportunity Campaign which operated from 2004 to 2007 and was formally known as the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CCIR). ⁸

CCIR led a coalition of center-left labor unions, think tanks, litigation groups, and immigration activists to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform to the U.S. Congress and the George W. Bush administration. CCIR’s original ten members included the Center for Community Change, the National Immigration Forum, the National Council of La Raza (now UnidosUS), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and one of the unions that later formed UNITE HERE, an AFL-CIO affiliate. ^{9 3}

The Bermuda-based Atlantic Philanthropies heavily funded CCIR, including giving $3,000,000 in seed funding and $10,000,000 between 2004 and 2007. This funding represented 96 percent of CCIR’s $10,400,000 in revenue during that period. ^{10 11}

In 2008, CCIR was legally converted into America’s Voice and its remaining $1,000,000 in assets were transferred to America’s Voice. ¹² America’s Voice’s 501(c)(3) affiliate, America’s Voice Education Fund, also was created strictly to fundraise from left-of-center foundations that “were unable or uneasy about making grants to a 501(c)(4) organization. ^{3 13 14 15}

America’s Voice has also played a major role in CCIR’s successor organization, Reform Immigration for America. ³

Leadership

Vanessa Cardenas has been the executive director of America’s Voice since October 2022. Prior to joining America’s Voice, she worked as a senior advisor for the left-of-center League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and as a national coalitions director for the 2020 presidential campaign of Joe Biden.  She has also worked at pro-abortion EMILY’s List, the World Wildlife Fund, the Center for American Progress, and the National Immigration Forum. ^{16 17}

Gina Gerson is the operations director of America’s Voice. She is also the operations director of the affiliated 501(c)(3) America’s Voice Education Fund. ¹⁸

Members of America’s Voice leadership have previously worked at Voto Latino, ¹⁹ the National Immigration Forum, the office of U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), ²⁰ and the New Leaders Council. ²¹ At least one member of America’s Voice staff has come to the United States as an illegal immigrant and received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protections from deportation from the Obama administration. ^{22 23}

Activities and Activism

America’s Voice is an immigration activist organization that advocates for citizenship for illegal immigrants residing in the United States, an expansion of legal immigration pathways, and accountability for employers who the group claims “violate the law and exploit workers.” ²

America’s Voice also supports a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States, supports the issuance of state-issued drivers licenses and in-state tuition rates for illegal immigrants, and has said that using the term “illegal” to refer to illegal immigrants is “legally inaccurate.” ¹

The organization supports legal status for the so-called DREAMers, illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children, ²⁴ and has supported the extension of temporary protected status (TPS) for nationals from Haiti, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and El Salvador living in the United States. ^{25 26}

America’s Voice also has called Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security agency in charge of enforcing U.S. immigration laws, a “destructive deportation force” and called for the U.S. Congress to “abolish” the agency. ³ The group has praised the Biden administration for extending Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) access to DREAMERs. ⁴

America’s Voice publishes a daily immigration newsletter, ^{27 28} tracks state-level efforts to enforce federal immigration law, ²⁹ publishes weekly summaries of immigration-related policy developments, ³⁰ and runs the “Reclaiming Our Story” campaign, which attempts to show stories of immigrants across the country to support expanded immigration to the U.S. ³¹ The organization also operates the Urge La Reforma Migratoria program, a Spanish-language website that features illegal immigrants calling for a pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants in the United States. ³²

In May 2024, America’s Voice joined with Voto Latino, UnidosUS (formerly National Council of La Raza) Action Fund, Mi Familia Vota, and Latino Victory Project to oppose what the group considered to be former President Donald Trump’s threat to “Latinos and the country.” ³³ In 2019, America’s Voice gave Tides Advocacy a grant of $10,000 to fund Poder Latinx. ³⁴

As of December 2024, America’s Voice is in partnership with the 501(c)(3) nonprofit America’s Voice Education Fund. ³⁵

Criticism of the First Trump Administration

America’s Voice was critical of the first Trump administration. Former America’s Voice executive director Frank Sharry called the first Trump administration a “lawless administration” in 2018. ³⁶ America’s Voice also made claims that the first Trump administration would “gut the Constitution” and “gut the 14th amendment” on immigration policy. ³⁷

On April 6, 2019, the organization signed a letter condemning the immigration policy of the Trump administration and urging American CEOs not to employ anyone involved with the administration’s policies. It accused Trump administration officials of being directly guilty for physical abuse, sexual assault, and even the death of illegal immigrant children. ³⁸

America’s Voice launched the “Trump Hate Map” in June 2015. This interactive map documented alleged “hate crimes” committed by supporters of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. As of December 2024, the website remains active. ³⁹ Also in 2015, America’s Voice claimed that the “Trump Effect” would see the then-Trump campaign’s “chickens [come home to roost]” regarding immigration policy. ⁴⁰

Criticism of the Second Trump Administration

During the 2024 election cycle, America’s Voice was critical of the 2024 presidential campaign of former President Donald Trump. The organization claimed that “vilifying immigrants has been the Republican Party’s go-to political strategy”; ⁴¹ said the Trump campaign is a “fascist campaign” ⁷ with a “fascist agenda” ⁴² that “doubled down hard on nativism”; ⁴³ and claimed that the Trump campaign was running a “campaign to sell the horrors of mass deportation.” ⁴⁴

On November 13, 2024, America’s Voice hosted a press conference with immigration expansionist organizations United We Dream Action, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, the Vera Institute of Justice, the National Partnership for New Americans, Make the Road Action Pennsylvania, Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), the National Immigration Law Center, the Fairness to Freedom Campaign, and others to oppose what it called the incoming second Trump administration’s “anti-immigrant agenda.” ⁴⁵

Following the second election of President Trump, America’s Voice has attacked the incoming second Trump administration for its expected approach to immigration policy. ³⁷ The organization has attacked second Trump administration deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller as a “white nationalist” and “hatemonger,” ⁵ attacked announced “Border Czar” Tom Homan, ⁶ and opposed the nomination of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) to the role of Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, claiming she would be an “agent of mass deportation.” ⁴⁶

Criticism of Foundation of the Carolinas

In August 2019, America’s Voice executive director Frank Sharry wrote an open letter to the Foundation for the Carolinas, a corporate-sponsored donor advised fund with board members from Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Duke Energy, and McKinsey and Company. This letter criticized the foundation for sending money to organizations that supported immigration restriction advocacy groups. ⁴⁷ In response, foundation president Michael Marsicano told Politico that while the Foundation of the Carolinas follows the wishes of its donors, it also provides some discretionary funds to pro-immigration groups. ⁴⁸

Funding

America’s Voice is funded by individual contributions and grants. Individual contributions to the organization are routed through Democratic-affiliated pass-through organization ActBlue Civics. ²

In 2023, America’s Voice reported revenue of $301,320 and expenses of $929,320. The organization reported revenue of $1,051,891 and expenses of $1,135,956 in 2022. ⁴⁹

In 2022 America’s Voice received $300,000 from George Soros’s Open Society Policy Center and $200,000 from the left-of-center NEO Philanthropy. ³⁴