Chamber of Commerce, Special Interest Groups Launch Lobbying Campaign Demanding More Immigration to US; Business Groups Launch Campaign to Overhaul Immigration Policies

Chamber of Commerce, Special Interest Groups Launch Lobbying Campaign Demanding More Immigration to U.S.:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and hundreds of special interest groups have launched a lobbying campaign to demand more legal immigration to the United States so business has a constant flow of cheaper foreign workers to hire for American jobs.

On Monday, the Chamber and more than 430 special interest groups unveiled the Legal Immigration and Border Enforcement Reform This Year (LIBERTY) campaign to formally ask Congress and President Joe Biden’s administration to increase legal immigration levels for the benefit of the business lobby.

“Companies are experiencing significant workforce shortages despite their sizable investments in expanding U.S. talent pipelines,” the Chamber and other groups wrote in a letter to Congress. “As a result, companies of all sizes and across a host of industries are wrestling with the myriad problems caused by their inability to adequately tap into global talent to meet their workforce needs.”

Every year the United States gives more than a million green cards to foreign nationals in addition to another million temporary work visas to foreign workers. These historically high, decades-long legal immigration levels are on top of hundreds of thousands of border crossers and illegal aliens who are being added to the workforce each year after securing work permits.

The Chamber’s suggestion that businesses need more foreign workers to hire comes as labor market data shows that the Biden administration is rapidly expanding the United States workforce by funneling millions of border crossers, illegal aliens, foreign visa workers, and legal immigrants into American jobs.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, close to two million fewer native-born Americans were working compared to the same time in 2019, while two million foreign-born workers were added to the workforce. —>READ MORE HERE

Business Groups Launch Campaign to Overhaul Immigration Policies:

US employers and trade groups Monday launched a new campaign pressing Congress for action on immigration legislation that would pair border security with more expansive employment-based immigration options.

The US Chamber of Commerce and more than 430 other businesses signed on to a letter telling lawmakers that they should sidestep yet another effort at comprehensive reform, and focus on a subset of measures that could get bipartisan support.

A potential bipartisan compromise on immigration, they said, could include more resources for security on the US-Mexico border, asylum law reforms, and a fix to employment verification requirements. The coalition also identified increased quotas for employment-based visas, new visa programs for entrepreneurs and international students, and temporary visas for nonseasonal industries as part of a potential agreement.

The campaign includes organizations representing the healthcare, agriculture, hospitality, and technology industries, among other groups. Employers in the US face serious worker shortages despite efforts to build new talent pipelines. Challenges they experience filling those gaps with international workers can only be addressed with new legislation, they said.

“As a nation we cannot afford to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We know there are reasonable compromises that can help secure our border and meet our workforce needs. We are pushing Congress and the administration to turn those compromises into law,” Neil Bradley, the chamber’s executive vice president and chief policy officer, said in a statement. —>READ MORE HERE

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