Chamber Laments Failure of Immigration Reform

WASHINGTON, DC—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today expressed its disappointment over the failure of S. 1348, the "Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Reform Act of 2007" to move forward for debate.

"This issue is not going away. The current system is clearly broken, and states are naturally reacting to the lack of action at the federal level with a patchwork of immigration laws and enforcement—exposing employers who must deal with a broken legal structure to unfair liability," said Bruce Josten, the Chamber's executive vice president of government affairs. "We need to address the United States' currently dysfunctional immigration system. The status quo is clearly unacceptable.

"While the current bill had flaws, we were hopeful that many of those concerns could be ironed out in conference if the Senate had just taken the step of moving it forward. American citizens and American businesses need to have confidence that there is a clear practical plan in place to address the need for border security and the need for additional workers. They also need to be sure that this plan will be a consistent and fair national policy. We will continue to work for sound legislation as the debate moves to the House."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

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