RELIGIOUS AND trade union leaders have called on the US Congress and President-elect Barack Obama to pass a comprehensive immigration package this year, saying the American economy could not be restored without legalising undocumented immigrants.
“Immigration reform is a necessity in order to fix the American economy,” John Wilhelm, president of Unite Here’s hospitality division, said on Thursday during a national teleconference call on immigration reform. The New York-based group represents more than 450,000 workers around the US.
Mr 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.
Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, an outspoken proponent for legalisation, said immigration is a humanitarian and moral issue but is 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 the topic would be debated in Congress this autumn and that legislation could come up for a vote in early 2010. They cited Mr Obama’s campaign pledge to address the issue and said that members of his transition team and members of Congress have indicated that it is a priority.
But anti-illegal immigration advocates urged the US government 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, president of NumbersUSA, wrote in a letter to Mr 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?”
Since immigration reform failed in 2007, the US government has focused on rooting out unauthorized workers at businesses, shoring up the US-Mexico border and arresting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes or ignored deportation orders.– (LA Times-Washington Post service)