"Working together" has been the theme of the "Gang Of Eight" bipartisan U.S. Senate panel who have been working round the clock to get a bill reforming the nation's immigration laws done.
One of those key members, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., took a risk in taking part in the efforts to fix the nation's immigration laws, a contentious topic among democrats and Republicans for years.
However, it appears that his risk-taking has been rewarded with the backing of the GOP.
NumbersUSA, a group that supports tight restrictions on immigration policy, has launched a campaign attacking Graham in South Carolina on his immigration stance, accusing him of supporting "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants during a time of high unemployment.
Graham, facing reelection in 2014, has opened himself up for attacks from the conservative right wing, who could put a candidate more to the right on the issue as a challenger against Graham.
However, a new GOP super PAC, Republicans for Immigration Reform, has countered by launching their own $60,000 ad campaign this week defending Graham's position on immigration.
The ad, seen below, features Charleston Chamber of Commerce President Bryan Derreberry stating that Sen. Graham is "right on target" with his push to update the nation's immigration laws.
In addition, as the Associated Press reports, other business and religious groups are launching ads backing Graham's immigration overhaul efforts. One of them is Bloomberg's Partnership for a New American Economy, founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, which is comprised of mayors and business leaders
On the faith side, the Evangelical Immigration Table, which has religious leaders supporting immigration reform, have also jumped to Sen. Graham's aid.
Richard Land of The Southern Baptist Convention, another pro-immigration group, told reporters on Wednesday that his group was encouraging their congregants to call local politicians and demand immigration reform, adding that they had already mobilized hundreds of calls to legislators in the issue.
"We certainly appreciate Sen. Graham's leadership on this issue both in the last reform debate and this one," Land said, according to Yahoo! News. "We believe that that kind of courageous leadership should be supported."
Jeremy Robbins, director of the Partnership for a New American Economy, a pro-immigration reform group which is organizing business leaders in South Carolina told ABC News Univision that Sen. Graham was "a great leader on this issue
"Lindsey Graham," said. "The way the media and other folks often talk about this, they talk about the costs of immigration, not the benefits of it. We have to give voice about the arguments on how this will help the economy," Robbins said.
The coalition of groups supporting Graham is indicative of a change in the way some Republicans are starting to see immigration reform, which the GOP heavily opposed and killed in the Senate in 2007.
With the voting lines changing thanks to the rising influence of Latino voters, as indicated by their support for Democrats during the last November elections, GOP leaders in Washington have been showing more willingness to work across the aisle with Democrats to reach an agreement on immigration issues.
With that in mind, Robbins believes that Sen. Graham's joining the push for immigration reform shouldn't hurt him in the primaries.
"Primaries draw more polarized voters, but what Americans care about is economy and jobs," Robbins said. In fact, he added, highlighting the benefits of immigration reform "is going to be an important thing in the primary and for the economy at large."
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