Almost 100 Texas business leaders, including the Dallas Regional Chamber, IBM, the Texas Restaurant Association and the Texas Association of Business met virtually with Senator John Cornyn on Wednesday to talk about the need for immigration reform.
The coalition, called "Texans for Economic Growth," says it feels immigration reform is both a moral and economic imperative.
The organization is calling for immigration reform in a bi-partisan, piece-by-piece manner, starting with finding a way to provide immediate legal status for DACA-eligible immigrants, or "Dreamers."
The coalition notes:
"There are approximately 204,453 DACA-eligible immigrants in Texas. They hold $3.2B in spending power and pay $963.4M in taxes each year.
More than 500,000 DACA-eligible individuals across the country are essential workers, with 62,000 working in healthcare alone.”
Glenn Hamer from the Texas Association of Business says that the current crisis situation of southern border crossings is threatening to overshadow the DACA immigrants, who are living in limbo.
"We owe it to them to provide a permanent legal status," says Hamer. "The faster the congress can act...the better. This is something that's incredibly important for the Texas economy.