CCIA Cautions House Leadership On Enforcement-Only Immigration Approach

File Under: News

Apr 29, 2008

Washington, D.C. – A tech industry association is asking Congress to steer clear of an enforcement-only immigration measure some lawmakers are trying to bring toward a vote. The Computer and Communications Industry Association sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner Tuesday outlining its concerns with H.R. 4088, the Save America Through Verification and Enforcement Act.

CCIA President and CEO Ed Black told House leaders H.R. 4088 is not broad enough to address problems with immigration policy, including the critical shortage of visas for highly skilled workers.

“Our current immigration system is broken, with serious problems that go beyond the issue of border security and illegal immigration,” Black said in the letter. “While enforcement related to illegal immigration is a necessary and important subject to address, it should not be dealt with in isolation.”   

Black, meanwhile, is praising H.R. 5882, introduced last week by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who chairs the House Judiciary immigration subcommittee. The legislation is designed to help recapture employment-based visas that are lost due to bureaucratic delays. Language in the bill would allow the government to recapture visas that went unused because of processing delays. Currently they don’t roll over to the next year.

“As more countries adjust their laws to attract highly skilled workers, the United States is missing out on opportunities to have these workers remain in the country along with the patents and tax dollars their work can generate,” Black said. “It makes no sense to educate foreign scientists and engineers and then send them home to compete against U.S. companies.”

The House immigration subcommittee has scheduled a hearing tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday) to examine some of the visa backlog issues addressed in H.R. 5882.

“The Judiciary Committee successfully passed holistic patent reform (H.R. 1908) legislation to aid a system in crisis,” Black said. “Instead of emulating that success, we see narrower ideas proposed to deal with immigration and copyright problems. A comprehensive approach worked for the patent system and it’s that approach the committee should remember when considering what to do with enforcement-only measures like H.R. 4088 in the coming weeks and H.R. 4279, scheduled for markup Wednesday morning.”

Click here for letter