While Congress has been hotly debating how to deal with the record flood of immigrants into the U.S., and in particular how to deal with the estimated 12 million people who are currently in the country illegally, Corporate America has remained largely on the sidelines. But some experts argue that business has a major stake in what kind of "reform" ultimately results–even if most executives don't feel it affects them directly.
So, what kind of immigration policy would be good for business? To an extent, that depends on what business you're in. But if you ask, "What kind of immigration policy makes the most economic sense"–now, that's a question that may have a meaningful answer for Corporate America.
For some companies that need a lot of unskilled labor–larger agribusiness concerns and healthcare providers, for example–the current system of porous borders and lax enforcement can be a boon. Undocumented workers are, for the most part, hard-working and undemanding with regard to pay or working conditions. A kind of "don't ask, don't tell" system that hires workers without pressing too hard about their citizenship or green-card status has evolved among many employers.
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Certainly, not all companies endorse that model. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for instance, is actively lobbying for a significantly expanded guest worker program that would formalize the temporary entry into the country–primarily from neighboring Mexico and the Caribbean–of workers who would be given permission to stay while there were jobs for them.
But some experts feel that both of these approaches miss the point, fixating on a short-term problem rather than the country's long-term needs. "There is a major focus in Congress on the large number of undocumented workers, and on the issue of controlling the borders," says William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "But the bigger issue, which is not being addressed, is that we need an immigration policy that is strategic for economic development."
In Frey's view, current immigration policy, dating back decades, "gives excessive weight to family unification instead of to meeting the nation's labor needs." He says: "We have a whole set of Band-Aid-type additions to the law that get adopted in response to pressure groups, but the fact that we have so many low-skilled people pouring in means we need to reassess what we're doing."
Companies in more technically sophisticated industries would tend to agree. For years, they have argued that the current system favors unskilled immigrants over skilled, educated ones. This group is looking for a major expansion in the H1-B visa program for skilled workers, and for changes in green card requirements when it comes to foreign students graduating in fields like math, science or engineering, to help compensate for a shortage of native-born graduates in those areas.
Adding to the complexity of the issue is a widespread concern among American voters, and in Congress, that the wave of immigrants is stealing jobs from citizens and depressing wages. There are currently 35 million immigrants living in the U.S.–about 12% of the population, nearly as high a percentage as during the great immigration wave of the early 20th century.
American Enterprise Institute (AEI) research fellow Jose Enrique Idler says a "protectionist mindset" that tries to address immigration reform by restriction and enforcement is a mistake. "There are legitimate worries associated with massive flows of immigrants, not the least of which are national security, respect for the rule of law and the future civic, cultural and political integration of the newcomers," he says. "But those who decry the negative effects on the economy and the labor market seem to miss the larger point: Immigrants strengthen America's competitiveness."
Idler says that while there is debate among economists as to whether low-skilled immigrants compete directly with native-born workers, it is "perfectly clear" that immigrant workers have contributed to overall employment growth, and in turn to higher productivity and a stronger economy. Others also warn that entry restrictions could lead to reciprocal limits on U.S. citizens traveling abroad, which would hurt U.S. multinationals.
The Business Roundtable, which represents the interests of larger corporations, has not taken a position on recent immigration proposals. Instead, it is lobbying for reforms that would expand the H1-B quota system and permit foreign students graduating with degrees in desired fields to stay on extended student visas while awaiting green cards. "Both the visa and the green-card programs are broken when it comes to recruiting and retaining the best and the brightest," says Susan Traiman, director of education and workforce policies at the Roundtable. "We've had a shortage of H1-B visas year after year, and even when someone graduates with a math or science degree and wants to stay and work, it takes so long to get a green card–sometimes years–that often they just leave."
Increasingly, expanding economies in countries like China and India, as well as much easier work-visa requirements in places like Western Europe and Singapore, are making it harder for the U.S. to retain or attract certain skills, Traiman notes. "Foreign graduates of U.S. universities are now just going home, or to other developed countries. We need to fix the system, so that we aren't hurting U.S. competitiveness by being overly bureaucratic and unwelcoming," says Traiman.
One thing is clear: Something needs to be done about immigration. "Right now, the system is broken," says AEI economist Kevin Hasset. "If they work hard for a decade reforming it, we might reach a point where we can call it Kafkaesque."
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