Immigration Reform News 2016: Powerful Corporations & Leaders of Industry Leading Force Toward Reforming U.S. Policy, Economy, Culture
A flood of pro-immigration reform groups and studies are making rounds in the media as of late, with leaders of these groups and results from published studies making the case that integrating such reform into the United States political spector will have a positive effect on the country's economy, and on America as a whole.
The Partnership for a New American Economy, led by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch is one such immigration reform advocacy group who recently launched an inititiative dubbed "Reason for Reform."
Politico reports that the campaign was set forth last week, as it pushed for pro-reform events throughout all fifty states and also provided economic reports on how such reform would benefit each state in the country. The group has said that it is also pushing toward a digital crowdsourcing venture in a bid to collect and distribute personal stories on how immigration has affected residents of each and every congressional district.
This most recent inititiative by Bloomberg and Murdoch included hard facts on what the group describes as "economic benefits of immigration reform." Three studies were made public via the "Reason for Reform" group, offering compelling statistics to back their case.
A report put together by the group to demonstrate such economic benefits in the state of Ohio showed that in 2014, immigrants in the state earned approximately $15.6 billion, which left these individuals with $11.1 billion post-tax dollars that would go on to be pushed back into the state's economy through a tremendous amount of newly found spending power.
Also in 2014, a study of Florida's economy found that over half of the state's agricultural workers - certainly a strong and undeniably necessary percentage of the state's work force - were "foreign-born." Lastly, a report on the economy in Nevada showed that companies in the state that were run by immigrants in 2014 were responsible for generating almost $800 million in business income.
"Together, these stories and the data make a compelling case: not only do Americans want immigration reform, our economy needs it," said "Reason for Reform" Chairman John Feinblatt.
Mississippi News Now has also reported recently that Farm Bureau has joined in on the national call for immigration reform, as prompted by the New American Economy Group. This organiation also has its goals set on the positive benefits of reform on the United States, rather than a focus on building walls or pathways to citizenship.
At Rivers Plant Farm in Brandon, Miss., owner Bill Rivers explained that in the coming month he expects his staff to triple in size, with most being "guest workers," or legal immigrants. Rivers further explained that the livelihood of his family business relies on legal immigration and the temporary help of guest workers from Mexico, up to 20 years in the future.
Rivers pointed out that his business could in no way operate on such a scale with only American-born workers employed, as the price of product, he says, would quadruple. The Mississippi Farm Buruea was quick to point out, however, that their call for reform is not just a push for cheap labor, and went on to cite fair salary and housing ensured for all workers.
"We feel like we have two choices," said Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation President Mike McCormick. "We have to import our labor or will have to import our food. The people here in the United States, I believe, we want our American farmers to produce our food here in the United States."
Many other industries have similarly found parallel reasoning that has led them to endorce immigrant workers as one of several measures that would be beneficial if included in the push forward for immigration reform.
A report from Fox News Latino has echoed this sentiment, agreeing that corporate leaders in the United States tend to support reform measures that would increase the number of visas issued for skilled foreign workers.
In this same report, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States, recently voiced public support for the 2013 comprehensive bipartisan reform bill, saying that it correctly dealt with securing the U.S.-Mexico border while also providing a pathway for some undocumented workers, which would be a coup for all sides.
Dimon has also publicly pushed for increased and optimized opportunities for foreign-born students to remain in the United States after receiving their college degrees.
Currently, students in post-graduate programs are permitted to remain in the United States for up to a year after obtaining their degree. If these individuals seek to remain in the country longer, they are subjected to a long and complicated process to obtain the proper visa.
Dimon disagrees with this approach, reasoning that it represents obstacles and barricades not only for the foreign-born students, but for an increase in profitable new companies based in the United States.
"All these kids who come from around the world, who get advanced degrees - you know, our best universities in the world, science, technology - and we send them home," Dimon said. "Let them stay and build companies. A lot of companies were built by immigrants."
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