Immigration Forces Invoke the Economy
Anna Gorman reports in the LA Times;
Religious and labor leaders called upon Congress and President-elect Obama to pass a comprehensive immigration package this year and said that the U.S. economy could not be restored without legalizing the nation’s undocumented immigrants.
“Immigration reform is a necessity in order to fix the American economy,” John Wilhelm, president of Unite Here’s hospitality-industry division, said Thursday during a national teleconference call on immigration reform. The New York-based group represents more than 450,000 workers around the U.S.
Wilhelm said immigration legislation would help the recovery by eliminating exploitation, increasing wages and tax compliance and placing all workers on a level playing field.
Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, who has been an outspoken proponent of legalization, said immigration is a humanitarian and moral issue but also an economic issue.
“Immigrants must be brought out of the shadows so they can fully contribute to our nation’s future economic and social well-being,” he said.
The participants in Thursday’s call said they believed that the topic would be debated in Congress this fall and that legislation could come up for a vote in early 2010. They cited Obama’s campaign pledge to address immigration reform and said that members of Congress and of Obama’s transition team have indicated that it is a priority. They acknowledged, however, that no specific commitment had been made or timetable set.
But anti-illegal immigration advocates urged the U.S. government this week to curtail legal immigration in response to the economic crisis.
“With the federal government reporting continuing giant losses of jobs, it is time to slow the massive importation of workers,” Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, wrote in a letter this week to Obama. “How can it make any sense for the American people’s own government to be approving more competitors for a dwindling number of jobs?” Click here for the rest of the story.
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