EPI: Another step towards immigration reform (updated)

[ProSense]

Another step towards immigration reform

Ross Eisenbrey Daniel Costa

An important step toward immigration reform was taken yesterday when Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey introduced new legislation to comprehensively reform America’s immigration system. The legislation offers solutions to many of the vexing problems inherent in the system.

We would like to call attention to a specific proposal in the bill – one that creates a new independent federal agency: the Standing Commission on Immigration, Labor Markets, and the National Interest. If enacted, the Commission’s members would be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Commissioners and the Commission’s professional staff would include economists, demographers, statisticians, and immigration experts. Their task would be to evaluate the U.S. labor market and economic conditions, and annually recommend to Congress the levels of permanent and temporary immigrant labor that would allow the U.S. economy to continue expanding while avoiding an oversupply of labor and the downward pressure on wages that could result.

In the past, Congress has set permanent and temporary immigration levels without considering unemployment levels or examining the needs of specific sectors in the economy. To remedy this, the Commission’s work would offer Congress an informed perspective, backed by research and hard data, on how much high, middle and low-skilled immigration the economy needs, and where. This will lead to more broadly shared prosperity in the United States, for businesses and their employees, and both immigrant and native-born workers.

The Economic Policy Institute, Migration Policy Institute, the united U.S. labor movement and a number of bi-partisan groups have called for the creation of a commission on employment-based migration. As a result, there is growing support for such an entity. Its creation is long overdue.

In less than a year, members in both houses of Congress have introduced legislation to reform the immigration system: in December, 2009, Rep. Solomon Ortiz introduced HR 4321, the “CIR ASAP” bill – a thoughtful proposal to comprehensively overhaul the national framework for immigration. EPI has expressed strong support for this legislation – which also includes a Commission, similar to the one proposed by Senator Menendez. President Obama, moreover, supports a comprehensive solution for immigration. Thus, the elements are now in place for Congress to legislate a sensible reform that ensures that the national interest governs our immigration policy.

Updated to add that this was introduced jointly with Senator Leahy, his statement

“I am pleased to cosponsor Senator Menendez’s Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act. In the opening days of this Congress, I expressed my steadfast commitment to reform of our nation’s broken immigration system. The problems we face in our immigration laws are very real today, and action is long overdue.

“The legislation Senator Menendez and I have introduced is an important starting point for this debate. It protects the rights and opportunities of American workers, while ensuring that American farmers and employers have the help they need. It promotes jobs to help spur our economy, it supports families, it helps to bring undocumented workers out of the shadows, and it enhances our border security. These are goals we can all share.

“I remain committed to important legislative efforts including AgJOBS, the Uniting American Families Act, the DREAM Act, and a permanent extension of the EB-5 foreign investors program. These provisions are important to many Vermonters, and they are all included in this legislation. The bill also improves protections for refugee and asylum seekers, honoring the American tradition of offering safety to victims of persecution.

“There are many immigration reform proposals that Democrats and Republicans will support, and many on which there will be a range of differing opinions. But one thing we should all support is a civil and meaningful debate about how best to update our immigration laws, curb the tide of illegal immigration, and address the violence along the southern border. Senator Menendez and I are committed to this issue, and I hope all Senators will join us.”

[pampango]

1. Don't think it has much chance in the current atmosphere, but it sounds like a good bill. n/t