June 29, 2006

Immigration Update from Laura Reiff

As co-chair of the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition and the National Business immigration Practice at Greenberg Traurig, I am beyond disappointed that this Congress was incapable of fulfilling its legislative duties to move forward on a bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill.

This immigration issue is not going away and will be addressed in one form or another in the near future. For the past eight years EWIC, a coalition of businesses, trade associations, and other organizations from across the industry spectrum concerned with the shortage of both lesser skilled and unskilled ("essential worker") labor has worked to effectuate passing workable immigration reform in both the House and Senate.

The need for reform is too critical and the work already done by Democrats and Republicans too great to give up now. Comprehensive immigration reform is essential to our national security, our economy, and to our society. Immigration is one of the most critical domestic policy issues of the day and it deserves constructive reform efforts, not the obstructionism and political pandering we witnessed today.

The status quo is bad and will worsen. American citizens and American businesses need to have confidence that there is a workable plan to address our dysfunctional immigration laws. States and local governments will continue to react to Federal inaction with countless immigration laws and enforcement measures which we believe are pre-empted under the U.S. Constitution but which will result in much litigation and a continuing demonization of the contributions of immigrants to our country. In addition, the status quo will continue to expose employers, who must deal with a broken legal structure, to unfair liability. If nothing is done, businesses will be forced to close and American workers as well as immigrant workers will lose jobs, jobs will be outsourced overseas where there is an adequate workforce, and our national and economic security will be jeopardized.

I pledge to continue work with my colleagues at EWIC, the stakeholder community and in Congress to bring back immigration reform post haste.