Corporations Push for Immigration Legislation

New York Times

By Eric Lipton

October 26, 2013

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/26/corporations-push-for-immigration-legislation/

Corporate voices behind immigration overhaul legislation continue to grow — including some companies that have a history of close ties to the Republican Party, giving a hint of the growing tension surfacing between corporate American and certain House Republicans.

Caterpillar and Home Depot, which have political action committees that give most of their money to Republicans, both have now taken public stands in favor of some kind of legislation revamping the nation’s immigration laws.

“Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are accountable for taking action and establishing laws and policies that make sense — and doing it now,” Doug Oberhelman, chairman of Caterpillar, said in a statement this week. “Both parties need to come together around common sense, realistic immigration solutions that can help to keep America strong.”

Home Depot, which liberal activists have challenged this week to speak out publicly on the topic, also issued a statement. “We think sound immigration policy makes good business sense, so we’re broadly in support of immigration reform,” it said. “While we know there are various ways to get this done, we support efforts in Congress to update our immigration laws and will lend our support when and where it’s appropriate to do so.”

In an interview Thursday, Gregory Brown, the chief executive of Motorola Solutions, and a steady giver over the years to Republican causes, said House Republicans certainly had the privilege of adopting their own set of bills detailing how the immigration system should be changed.

But the business community is determined that some kind of plan must be passed — and he said the issue would be influencing decisions he makes as an individual about campaign contributions.

“It is a top issue that would be incorporated into my thinking going forward,” Mr. Brown said in an interview Thursday. “It’s the right thing to do for the country and the right thing for economy. It is the right thing period.”

These comments come even as House Republican leaders have hinted in recent days that they may not move to take up legislation on immigration reform until 2015, saying that it is too late to do it this year, and that it is not politically helpful to address it during a midterm election year.

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