Wall Street Journal
By Laura Meckler and Kristina Peterson
July 1, 2014
Industry
groups that have pressed for new immigration laws are trying to
determine whether they can salvage smaller, narrowly drawn relief for
their businesses from the
collapse of the broad immigration legislation in Congress.
Their
hopes are dim. Many Democrats say they don't want to ease problems only
for certain industries, as that would eliminate their leverage in
pressing House Republicans
to reverse their opposition to a wider overhaul.
With
no congressional relief on the way, some businesses are wondering if
President Barack Obama can help solve their problems through
administrative action. They are
also considering whether the time has come to break the compact that
has bound their interests together to push for a sweeping immigration
rewrite, and instead lobby for industry-specific measures.
"One
of the things that's likely to be discussed is whether or not an
incremental approach is more viable from a legislative perspective,"
said Geoff Burr, vice president
of government affairs for Associated Builders and Contractors, who
noted there were valid concerns about that approach.
The
National Milk Producers Federation said it would look for solutions to
its problems finding year-round workers under the current
agricultural-visa system, which provides
permits only for seasonal jobs. Initially, the group will see if it can
assuage farmers' worries about government raids and deportations
through administrative action by Mr. Obama, said Jim Mulhern, president
of the group, which still backs a broad overhaul.
Mr.
Obama on Monday declared the long-debated immigration push dead for the
year, after House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said his chamber
wouldn't vote on it. The
president vowed to take action on his own. While Mr. Obama has some
powers to adjust immigration policy—he is looking at shielding more
illegal immigrants from deportation, for example—the broadest changes
require congressional approval.
"If
we can't have comprehensive immigration reform, we still have to do
something to solve the problem: We have too many people here on false
documents," said Tom Nassif,
president of Western Growers, a trade group representing the Arizona
and California farmers who grow roughly half the country's fresh fruits
and vegetables. Of an agriculture-only bill, he said: "We're not yet
talking about it, but that's certainly a possibility."
Traditionally,
Democrats have resisted any efforts to pass bills for specific sectors
independent of a broad overhaul. The disintegration of this year's push
isn't likely
to change their stance. They fear that one provision important to
them—granting legal status to many of the nation's estimated 11 million
illegal immigrants—would be left behind under a piecemeal approach.
"If
you allow Republicans to cherry pick, they will leave the 11 million
behind," said Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, a Democrat involved in
the House efforts. The AFL-CIO
said Tuesday labor groups remained committed to ensuring all the pieces
of a broad rewrite move together.
Even
some Republicans who said they hoped to pass fixes easing problems for
some industries said that seemed unlikely in the current political
climate.
Rep.
Tom Rooney (R., Fla.) said he would like to tweak the guest-worker
program for citrus growers in his district, but he saw no indications
that GOP leaders would want
to take up the issue, particularly amid tensions over the influx of
migrants at the southern border.
"I don't see it happening. It seems like if we don't do the full series of bills then we're not going to do any," he said.
Business
groups warned that the failure of the legislation would compound
problems plaguing many of the industries reliant upon immigrant workers.
With
agricultural workers hard to find, some farmers growing labor-intensive
fresh fruits and vegetables may switch to different commodities that
rely less on human labor,
said Mr. Nassif of Western Growers.
"We
will find that the cost of produce is going to be going extremely high,
because people will not be able to afford to grow them," he said.
The construction industry said, without an updated guest-worker program, labor shortages could develop.
The
technology industry, which has lobbied for years to increase the number
of visas for high-tech workers, may see a continued slow drain of jobs
to other countries that
would have been created in the U.S., said Scott Corley, executive
director of Compete America, which represents high-skilled companies.
Dairy
farmers already scrambling to find enough workers to handle the nearly
24-hour milking cycle may have to produce less milk or pass up
opportunities to expand, Mr.
Mulhern said.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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