Updated 02:56 AM EDT, Fri, Mar 29, 2024

Immigration Reform News 2014: House GOP Members Criticize Obama's Call for Comprehensive Reform

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In a letter to President Obama, a group of House Republicans are rejecting the president's push for comprehensive immigration reform, accusing him of shutting out the concerns of everyday workers and adhering to big business lobbyists who argue that reform will help drive the economy.

The letter, which was led by Republican Rep. Mo Brooks and signed by 16 mostly conservative House members, argues that immigration will hurt American wages and increase unemployment.  It also bashed the Senate's bipartisan reform bill passed last year, calling it an "awful deal."

"We write to you today on behalf of the 21 million Americans who can't find a full-time job," the letter begins. "Comprehensive immigration reform may be a good deal for big businesses that want to reduce labor costs. And it may be a good deal for progressive labor unions seeking new workers from abroad. But it's an awful deal for U.S. workers," it continues.

The letter states that the Senate bill would double the influx of foreign workers and add over 30 million immigrants in the next decade, the majority of which would be lower skilled.

"Rapidly expanding unskilled immigration-at [sic] time when factory work and blue-collar jobs are disappearing-would represent the final economic blow for millions of workers who have been struggling to gain an economic foothold," the letter reads.

"The White House has entertained a parade of high-powered business executives to discuss immigration policy, all while shutting out the concerns of everyday wage-earners who overwhelmingly oppose these measures," it says.

Contrary to the letter, research proves that immigration and economic progress go hand in hand and that comprehensive reform would actually help end America's job crisis.

While immigrants make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, they account for nearly 20 percent of small businesses owners and are responsible for more than 25 percent of all new business creation and related job growth, the National Journal reports.

According to a 2012 study from the Fiscal Policy Institute, immigrant-owned small businesses employed nearly five million Americans in 2010 and generated an estimated $776 billion in revenue. The Partnership for a New American also states that more than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or first generation Americans.

The GOP-backed letter to Obama was sent late Wednesday, not long after the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pledged to ramp up the group's lobbying on immigration legislation and play a bigger role in electing pro-business candidates in the midterm congressional elections later on this year.

The nation's largest business-lobbying group "will pull out the stops" to encourage Congress to pass a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, said chamber president Tom Donohue during his annual "State of American Business" address, reports USA Today.

"We're determined to make 2014 the year that immigration reform is finally enacted," he added.

Donohue also announced that the group is prepared to spend heavily to ensure lawmakers pass pro-business measures like immigration reform. 

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