(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A national alliance of business groups is speaking out against the Trump administration’s drive to export massive numbers of undocumented immigrants. But they are also calling for comprehensive Immigration Reform.
The American Business Immigration Coalition, comprised of present and former corporate CEOs, advocates and others, is critical of the deportations. Coalition leader Rebecca Shi suggests they're counterproductive, hurtful and will cause inflation to rise.
But she doesn’t argue with President Trump’s desire to secure the borders.
“We have an immigration system that's tied to a 1986 economy because that was the last time we actually had immigration reform under Reagan. And so we know that our economy and our industries are light years ahead now, and so we actually need a deep fix.”
Sam Toia, CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association, says public opinion polls show there’s consensus on some things.
“We definitely need border security. That's what the people. The majority of people spoke. I agree with that,” Toia said.
“They also want to see the dangerous people out, but we also got to think about the essential workers, right? So we would love to see work visas.”
The Coalition is working to get Congress to agree.
And if there are still people who think migrants are taking jobs from Americans, Shi says think again.
“Yeah, if every American who is looking for work finds a job today, we would still have 1.7 million open jobs,” Shi said.
She says we need comprehensive Immigration Reform.
Immigration and business is the topic on our At Issue program this weekend, and you can hear more at 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
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