August 15, 2006
Southwest California Businesses for Responsible Immigration
Reform
The Temecula Valley, Murrieta and Lake Elsinore Valley
Chambers of Commerce are supporting immigration reform
policy that is responsible and meets the needs of our region
and state. Specifically, the Southwest California
Legislative Council (SWCLC) will support immigration reform
proposals that:
- Creates a guest worker program that is comprehensive,
addressing both future economic needs for workers and the
status of undocumented workers already in the United States.
- Strengthens national security
by providing for thorough screening of foreign workers and
creating strong disincentives for illegal immigration.
- Creates an employment
verification system that is fast and reliable
- Ensures that all workers
enjoy the same labor law protections. Only by bringing
undocumented workers out of the shadows can we protect them
from unscrupulous employers who might exploit them.
- Ensures that all documented
workers can demonstrate a knowledge of English language and
American civic requirements
“Our immigration system is broken,” asserted Joan Sparkman,
Chair of the SWCLC, “so to fix it, a comprehensive approach
is needed because it is easier to enforce laws that make
sense and can work.”
The U.S. House of Representatives has not touched
immigration laws since 1986. A bill passed by the House in
late 2005 (H.R. 4437) would require all employers of all
sizes from all parts of the country to verify that every one
of their current employees is eligible to work here; that
would include documentation for 140 million people. It is
estimated that penalties and paperwork violations could cost
up to $25,000 per person. The Senate later killed the bill.
U.S. Congress is now looking for a comprehensible answer to
immigration reform.
There is an estimated 10-12 million undocumented migrants in
the United States right now. The vast majority are working
regularly, paying taxes, and supporting their families. They
play vital roles in many important industries where we live
in one of the largest agricultural producing counties in the
entire world. Agriculture supports 1.1 million jobs, nearly
8 percent of all jobs in California.
In late May 2006, the US Senate passed S. 2611, the
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006. The bill is
designed to improve security and border enforcement, it
increases employer sanctions for knowingly hiring illegal
aliens and establishes an employment eligibility
confirmation system. The bill addresses the country’s need
for workers by creating a new temporary worker program and
implements a workable way to deal with the estimated 12
million undocumented immigrants working in the U.S. by
providing avenues for certain undocumented workers to
achieve legal status and ultimately lawful permanent
residency, provided strict criteria are met.
