The U.S. Chamber applauded President Obama and the Supreme Court this week for focusing their attention on the importance of fixing the nation’s broken immigration system. The Chamber stands ready to work with the administration and Congress to achieve this important goal.

“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has long called for bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform legislation that includes securing the borders; providing an earned pathway to legalization; and a new, nationally implemented employment verification system, and has worked towards that goal for a decade,” said the Chamber Senior Vice President of Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits Randy Johnson.

The Chamber is calling for a provisional visa program that admits workers initially on a temporary, three-year basis to meet short- to medium-term workforce needs. Such a program would “supply the U.S. economy with the workers it needs to help recover from the downturn while we simultaneously work to educate and train more American workers for those professions,” Johnson said.

In addition, the Chamber advocates a sensible new visa program that automatically adapts to the needs of the market.

“Clearly, employers must first try to hire American workers before they are allowed to hire foreign workers,” Johnson said. “At that point, there should be a new provisional visa program that gives employers, not the government or a commission, the primary say in which workers they need for their businesses to function.”

Separately, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed on June 28 to take up the Chamber’s case challenging the constitutionality of a controversial Arizona immigration law that imposes harsh sanctions on businesses.

The challenged Arizona law requires businesses to comply with the federal E-Verify pilot program to electronically verify employees’ eligibility to work.  Businesses that fail to comply with the program or that “intentionally or knowingly” employ unauthorized workers are subject to revocation of business licenses. In its lawsuit, the Chamber argues that federal law preempts Arizona’s statute.
 

The case is Chamber of Commerce, et al. v. Candelaria, et al.