U.S. Chamber Criticizes Immigration Reform Legislation

'Immigration reform must be done right, not 'ASAP,' or it is destined for failure,' Johnson Says

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Following today's announcement of the introduction of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Senior Vice President of Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits, Randel K. Johnson, issued the following statement:

"We look forward to reviewing the actual legislation, but we are concerned with the bill's approach for temporary and seasonal worker programs outlined in the draft summary released today.

"Allowing an additional 100,000 unemployed immigrants a year to enter the country permanently through a lottery, as proposed in this bill, disregards the current needs of the economy. Immigration should be a demand-based system that permits employers to hire, as needed, when the economy recovers fully, igniting job growth. Furthermore, we have well-functioning temporary and seasonal immigration policies that already exist and a commission, as proposed in this legislation, would have the authority to establish future employment-based immigration policy.

"Employers support a requirement that first, every reasonable effort be made to hire qualified Americans.

"Only after employers have tried to hire U.S. workers should they be allowed to resort to a foreign workforce. At that point, employers support a new provisional visa program that gives employers, not a lottery, a voice in determining which workers they need.

"Any new immigration program must reflect economic needs in a demand-based system responding to the U.S. labor market, not Congress or a commission, in determining how many workers enter the country annually.

"The program must allow those migrants – who succeed in the U.S. and meet certain merit-based criteria – to stay permanently. Not every worker who comes to the United States needs, or wants, to stay permanently.

"As our economy rebounds, the need for workers will rise. Visa restrictions and artificial caps, especially those for temporary H-1B high-skilled and H-2B low-skilled seasonal worker categories, hurt businesses and the markets they serve."

The U.S. Chamber 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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