Boost legal immigration, U.S. Chamber CEO says

This is about the shortage of immigrant workers and says that companies here will have to close down and move off-shore. That means the other workers in those companies will be out of work too. DP

Ryan Randazzo, The Arizona Republic

AZcentral.com: The United States needs to "normalize" the nation's millions of illegal immigrants and increase legal immigration to keep the economy growing, the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Wednesday in Phoenix.

Some farmers already have moved operations to Mexico to more easily access workers, and high-tech companies are expanding to places such as Canada, where they more easily can hire foreign engineers, Thomas Donohue said.

"We can either force companies to move offshore . . . we can either make the U.S. dependent on other countries for our food supply, just like we are for oil . . . or we can have a system of bringing the workers into our country," he said.

No solution to immigration will please everyone, but Congress needs to readdress the issue after failing to pass an immigration initiative earlier this year, he said.

"We would like to get the debate going again," he told about 50 executives at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort.

He said state laws targeting businesses that hire illegal immigrants, such as a new one in Arizona, are a reaction to vocal, uninformed immigration critics. He mentioned politicians responding to talk radio at least twice. At least one national expert said Donohue's hopes for more immigration are unlikely.
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