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Immigrant Integration and Future U.S. Competitiveness

By Jason Marczak

A Capitol Hill program addressed why immigration reform is critical to our U.S. economic prosperity. As part of the program, business executives spoke about the actions that the U.S. Congress can take to create better opportunities for the Latino population.

Speakers:

  • Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
  • Amb. John Negroponte, Chairman of the Board, Americas Society and Council of the Americas
  • Jorge Perez, Senior Vice President of Staffing, Manpower Inc.
  • Jim McIngvale, Director, Government Affairs, Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding-Gulf Coast
  • Susan Segal, President and CEO, Americas Society and Council of the Americas
  • Jason Marczak, Director of Policy, Americas Society and Council of the Americas

 

Summary

The Capitol Hill luncheon "Immigrant Integration and Future U.S. Competitiveness" brought together the public and private sectors to address why immigration reform is critical to our nation’s competitiveness and why integration must be a key component of a revamped immigration system. As part of the program, business executives spoke about the actions that the U.S. Congress can take to create better opportunities for our nation’s Latino population.

Our Capitol Hill program was also the launch of AS/COA’s Hispanic Integration Hub website and its video interviews with business leaders on workforce integration practices and immigration reform. The website is part of AS/COA’s ongoing efforts with leaders of national-level corporations, medium-sized businesses, community groups, and the public sector to create new opportunities and partnerships that advance the integration and upward socioeconomic mobility of immigrants—and Latinos overall—in new gateway cities across the United States.

The lunch and website were funded through a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The Imperative of Immigration Reform

In his introductory remarks, Ambassador John Negroponte called attention to the timing of this event: It was three years ago—on June 28, 2007—that the Senate blocked action on then-President Bush’s ambitious effort to overhaul our country’s immigration policy. A result of that defeat, and the stalling of other attempts to pass comprehensive reform, is that local authorities have increasingly attempted to regulate immigration as new gateway cities emerge that are grappling with changing demographics and the uncertainty of integration.

This was seen in Arizona with the signing into law of SB1070 and again by the vote in Fremont, Nebraska, this week when voters passed an ordinance that would outlaw hiring undocumented immigrants or renting property to them.

One of the key champions for immigration reform is Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey who, as the keynote speaker, underscored the social and economic importance of a comprehensive approach to immigration reform. He, along with Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Harry Reid (D-NV), put forward an immigration framework in late April to renew discussions of how to achieve reform.

Susan Segal echoed the senator’s position, calling for “holistic immigration reform as soon as possible.” Meanwhile, Jason Marczak, in a presentation of the Hispanic Integration Hub, pointed to AS/COA’s goal of “highlighting businesses that see the need to invest in their immigrant workers and that see how crucial immigration reform is to our country’s competitiveness.”

While the framework includes a more robust border enforcement process, the senator “fundamentally disagrees” that some standard of border militarization must be achieved before tackling comprehensive reform. Already, in the last 10 years funding for border security has increased substantially, with a 127 percent increase for Customs and Border Patrol inspections, a 160 percent increase for border control, and a 1,737 percent increase for construction and technology purposes. In Arizona, there are more than 6,000 federal law enforcement officials with 10 agents for every mile of the border.

Building our Economic Competitiveness

Although the U.S. unemployment rate is at 10 percent, 3 million jobs remain unfilled each month. For Jorge Perez, the reason is simple: a talent mismatch. Some of the top positions in need of workers include nurses and technicians, and with less than 10 percent of students pursuing science or technology-related studies, this is bound to only worsen in the future. The answer is more workplace training and a federal policy that allows immigrants to be able to achieve their maximum potential as a key sector of the U.S. labor force.

The need for qualified workers was reflected by Jim McIngvale. Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding’s Gulf Coast Operations employ approximately 17,000 shipbuilders, with 12 percent of them self-classified as Hispanic. As a point of contrast, prior to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, their Hispanic workforce was less than 1 percent of total employees.

Just as Jorge Perez reflected on the need for greater Hispanic worker training across the economy, Jim McIngvale focused on how Hispanic workers have become critical to their operations. But at the same time, the company also sees a need to give back by providing tools and programs designed to improve safety, productivity, recruitment and retention, employee communication, and employee morale. For both private-sector executives the right government education programs can complement business efforts and facilitate competitiveness.

Hispanic Integration Hub

At this time of critical debate on immigration legislation and the backlash against immigrants, AS/COA believe that greater integration and appreciation for immigrants’ contributions to society will ultimately help advance immigration reform. That is the purpose of our Hispanic Integration Hub, which is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. It is an online, consolidated source of information about Hispanics and Hispanic immigrants and includes original videos and testimonials and easily accessible information on their contributions. Its videos and profiles of companies from new gateway cities showcase the returns of investing in workplace integration programs both for business and social reasons. Please visit the Hub at: www.hispanicintegration.org.

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