News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Sept. 13, 2013: Dear Mr. President,
Come October, the Republican Congress according to chair of the House Judiciary Committee overseeing immigration, Congressman Bob Goodlatte, says he expects votes on a series of smaller House immigration bills on border security, internal enforcement, guest workers, and high-tech visas. There is no bill in that series of course on dealing with the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States today – nothing at all.
Which means this is the moment to keep the drum beating on immigration reform that is comprehensive and not be preoccupied with Syria, which is simply a case of a horse gone out of the gate. Trying to catch it back without the apparent help of Putin and the UN is a waste of time.
It is better to focus on the domestic agenda at home which is what you were elected to do. And there is no better time than the present. With more than 100 businesses, including some of the nation’s largest companies, writing to leaders of the House of Representatives, including House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio and Representative Nancy Pelosi, urging them to “enact legislation to fix the broken immigration system and work with the Senate to ensure that a bill is signed by the president this year” you have the momentum to put the focus back on this issue.
Executives for technology and communications companies like Motorola Solutions, Verizon and AT&T as well as Procter & Gamble, CVS Caremark Corporation, American Express, Allstate Insurance, The Coca-Cola Company, Johnson & Johnson, American Airlines, 21st Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company have all signed on to this letter. This is a milestone as it’s the first time companies, top churches, unions and even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have all lined up in agreement on one issue.
As the company executives stated, and as you know, this is “a long overdue step toward aligning our nation’s immigration policies with its work force needs at all skill levels to ensure U.S. global competitiveness.”
As Michele A. Carlin, a vice president for human resources of Motorola Solutions, one of the executives who helped to organize the letter stated: “Every day that goes by this gets more urgent, not less urgent. If we want to get this country growing again we have to fill those jobs.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce for its part also re-issued a letter from late July that was signed by more than 450 companies and business groups through an advertisement on the Politico Web site that simply says: “Failure to act is not an option.”
Now is the moment for you to also say the same. It’s time to strut out the campaign strategy that got you the White House twice. Educate and inundate. We have come too far to let this issue fall to the backburner again and fall off the stove all together. Change in the lives of millions starts with you.
Respectfully,
The writer is founder of NewsAmericasNow, CaribPR Wire and Hard Beat Communications.
